Rotec team signs up to Santa Abseil challenge in support of St Margaret’s Hospice Care

It may be too early to mention the festive season, but St Margaret’s Hospice Care is gearing up for Christmas already with the launch of its new fundraising event – Santa Abseil.

Sponsored by Rotec Hydraulics Ltd, volunteer fundraisers will abseil a 60ft drop at Cheddar Gorge, one of Britain’s most spectacular natural landmarks, all while dressed as Santa!

Never one to walk away from a challenge, six Rotec employees will be taking on the challenge on Saturday 3rd December at 12.30pm.

The team, consisting of Stroud Branch Manager, Dale Lockart, Quality Manager, Josie Chamberlain, Marketing Manager, Rachel Worth, Design Engineer, Isaac Anderson, Production Stock Control Manager, Glyn Cattle and Sales Office Manager, Alex Pounde have all volunteered and, as part of the challenge, have pledged to raise a minimum of £125 each to support the charity’s vital work.

Last year St Margaret’s Hospice Care supported more than 5,000 people. This care is provided because of fundraising events like the Santa Abseil, with supporters raising thousands of pounds to help provide care across Somerset.

£125 sponsorship could pay for a specialist Community Nurse visit for one of the hospice’s local patients being cared for at home and an hour’s support to one of St Margaret’s patients at home by one of their Adviceline nurses.

Paul Prouse, Managing Director of Rotec Hydraulics Ltd said:

“It is our great pleasure to support the hospice by sponsoring their Santa Abseil. The vital work they do to help patients with life-limiting illnesses, together with their families and carers is remarkable.”

Rachel Worth, Marketing Manager commented:

“All members of the Rotec Santa Abseil team are excited and pleased, albeit a little nervous, to take part in the Santa Abseil challenge.

 

“We wish to say thank you to everyone who has donated so far. Every penny will help this great cause to continue to deliver essential support to those living with a life-limiting illness and their loved ones.”

The hospice is hoping participants will raise enough to pay for a weeks’ worth of community visits across Somerset. Around a hundred visits each week are made by one of the five community teams and are a vital part of the care and support offered to patients and their families.

For those wishing to donate, please visit http://bit.ly/rotecsanta.

 St Margaret’s Hospice Care. Registered charity number: 279473 Company limited by guarantee number: ENG 1471345. All rights reserved. Registered Office: Heron Drive, Taunton, TA1 5HA

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd Achieves ISO 14001:2015 Certification

Rotec is pleased to announce it has achieved ISO 14001:2015 certification.

ISO:14001 joins Rotec’s existing certifications, including ISO 9001, JOSCAR and SafeContractor.

ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised standard that relates to a stringent and specific set of requirements all linked to systems of environmental management.

Revised in 2015, ISO 14001 brings an increased focus on sustainable development and supporting businesses to effectively manage the environmental challenges of the future. It is now the most widely recognised Environmental Management System (EMS) in the world and provides businesses with a framework for implementing sustainable practices. This includes covering issues such as the establishment, implementation, maintenance and improvement of an EMS.

Rotec’s Quality Systems Manager, Josie Chamberlain said,

“When considering how to implement ISO 14001:2015 it made sense to integrate it with our ISO 9001:2015 approved Quality system as there were crossovers in the standards.

 

“The Rotec team embraced the standard, ensuring that we have a systematic approach to our environmental management and demonstrates our sustainable commitment to our customers.”

Through the process of certification, Rotec has undergone audits at all company service centres with excellent results. Every one of Rotec’s locations have demonstrated the effectiveness of their EMS processes and the organisation’s commitment to becoming more sustainable and net zero in future years.

The ISO 140001 certification comes a few months after the business released a statement pledging its commitment to halving its carbon emissions by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

A 2021 ‘Carbon Footprint Assessment’ at Rotec identified the main sources of the company’s carbon emissions and has ensured necessary management frameworks, processes and systems for decreasing the company’s carbon footprint are data-driven and have measurable targets. Rotec have also recently received the FNZ Standard – a benchmark and progress recording and monitoring tool, which is verified and audited by future Net Zero.

Paul Prouse, Rotec’s Managing Director, commented,

 “We are delighted to achieve ISO 14001:2015 certification across all of our business sites. Rotec’s environmental commitment to achieve net zero by 2040 has driven our framework for implementing sustainable practices and we have embedded our plan to reduce the company’s carbon footprint within our business strategy.

 

“As part of being an environmentally responsible company, we are committed to supporting our customers to become more sustainable by designing and offering more energy-efficient and eco-friendly engineering solutions.”

Click here to find out more about Rotec’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Bespoke hydraulic ring main and multiple air blast coolers installed at leading Aerospace Engineering company

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd was chosen by leading aerospace and engineering business to complete a 3-phase upgrade project to its existing Structural Test Lab (STL) hydraulic ring main. The team at Rotec successfully completed the project on time and to a high level of quality.

A global leader in Aerospace, Defence and Security, our client is a key supplier of defence and security equipment to the UK MoD, employing over 7,500 highly skilled personnel across 7 main sites throughout the UK.

A crucial asset at their Somerset facility is its Structural Test Laboratory (STL), which is responsible for mechanically testing critical aircraft components to destruction. As part of an ongoing development programme, the client wanted to create a dedicated and permanent hydraulic supply to its expanding fleet of testing equipment.

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd added several significant upgrades to the current system in three stages; install 4 air blast coolers, design and install a custom sub ring main within the new Fatigue Lab and finally to design and install a major upgrade to the existing distribution ring main.

As part of the second and final phases of the project, Rotec designed and built a number of bespoke pipework brackets, stands and manifolds all of which were FEA tested by our in-house design engineers to ensure they exceed the minimum design requirements set by the customer.

More than 21.5 metres of pressure and return pipework was manufactured on site using Parker’s unique High Pressure Flange system making for a very quick and efficient installation. The 80 x 10mm 6k steel pipework is capable of operating at 420 bar maximum working pressure and was connected using Rotec’s in-house designed “X-Blocks” which distributed the flow to numerous outputs.

Rotec’s capabilities are that of significant breadth meaning, unlike many competitors, Rotec is able to design, build, install, commission and maintain systems in-house to a consistently high standard. To find out more, visit our services page.

Rotec hosts Remote Monitoring Technology Discovery Day

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd hosted their first ever Technology Discovery Day in August, with a focus on cutting-edge remote monitoring technology.

Guests were invited to the home of Somerset County Cricket, and after a opportunity for networking listened to a short presentation from Phil Ingate on the benefits of the Parker Tracking System (PTS). Proven to significantly reduce equipment downtime, PTS is a tagging and tracking solution to store, access and monitor critical asset information.

Following this, the focus of the Technology Discovery Day turned to Rotec’s remote monitoring offer. Guests listened to a presentation from Parker’s IoT expert, Tim Harris, ending with a demonstration using an intelligent demo kit linked to a mobile and laptop.

The ability to remotely and reliably monitor assets, collect data and receive service alerts is becoming increasingly desirable for clients from all sector industries. Rotec is proud to have been the first in the UK to offer Parker Internet of Things (IoT) Technology.

Parker IoT is the latest monitoring cloud-based solution specifically designed to provide sophisticated data, monitoring and performance control capabilities.

IoT makes it easy for businesses to collect and analyse data to identify usage trends and system maintenance concerns with unparalleled intellectual design and operational insight. Smart sensors and telematics help manage assets and prevent failures by optimising performance across multiple sites. By investing in IoT, you can reduce asset downtime, eliminate unnecessary spend, ensure compliance and safety as well as gain critical performance visibility. 

Continuous remote monitoring allows you to track key parameters and gauge the health of your assets. Parker IoT technology delivers an integrated, automated monitoring solution that uses the internet to enable you to monitor your assets from anywhere remotely.

With IoT technology, users can:

  • Review data anywhere, anytime and make informed decisions
  • Improve safety
  • Gather data without interrupting production
  • Schedule service events
  • Receive alert notifications
  • Optimise machine performance and service life
  • Maintain production quality

Data, provided by Parker, has shown IoT to increase productivity by up to 20%, reduce fuel consumption and recordable accidents by up to 20% and reduce diagnostic time by up to 70%.

For more information, please visit our remote monitoring technology page.

Rotec supports new immersive visitor experience at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

The Fleet Air Arm Museum will be wowing visitors with their new state-of-the-art, immersive Carrier Experience after a £1million refurbishment.

Rotec Hydraulics Ltd were pleased to carry out works on the hydraulic and electrical systems that are integral to the simulator experience at the museum, which houses aircraft and artefacts from the flying arm of the Royal Navy.

In addition to replacing over 50m of hydraulic hose, all hoses were uniquely identified using the Parker Hannifin PTS bar-code labelling system to ease traceability and future renewal. Rotec engineers also refurbished all hydraulic cylinders and repaired the two hydraulic pump units to ensure pressure and flow performance are maximised. Other works included replacement seals, filters and directional valves, strip and clean manifold assemblies and reservoir cleans.

Adjacent to the hydraulic works, Rotec carried out electrical works on the customer experience feature at the museum in the main pump room, remote control room and on the scissor lift which raises and lowers visitors during the simulation.

In the main pump room located control panel, Rotec removed existing obsolete Toshiba PLC unit hardware, and installed a newly supplied 24VDC 10A switch mode power supply module plus protective devices. A rewire the existing safety monitoring control relay and circuit was required to provide a dual channel redundant protective emergency stop circuit.

Rotec designed, supplied and installed replacement PLC hardware to replace the Toshiba module, which was then fully programmed with the required application specific logic code to ensure the scissor lift would rise and lower in time with the attraction’s audio-visual experience.

In the remote control room, Rotec supplied and installed an operator’s control station and local 24VDC power supply. The control station included a nominal 8” full colour touchscreen HMI device fully programmed with all existing and planned operator controls, indicators and alarms.

The works Rotec has completed in part of an overarching Carrier Experience. The new experience, which is dedicated to the memory of generous benefactor Vice Admiral Sir Donald Gosling KCVO, Vice Admiral of The United Kingdom, combines digital technology with the scale of a carrier flight deck to transport visitors from the pioneer years of the First World War, all the way to the modern HMS Queen Elizabeth class carriers of today.

Adam Gosling, of the Gosling Foundation comments,

“Vice Admiral Sir Donald Gosling KCVO, Vice Admiral of The United Kingdom founded the original Carrier Experience that opened in 1994 and has welcomed over four million visitors.

 

“To see the Experience reinvigorated and made meaningful and relevant for today’s audience is the perfect way to celebrate my late father’s enduring support of the Fleet Air Arm Museum. It reflects a mutual vision to preserve and showcase the proud history of British naval aviation. His generous legacy gift has enabled, once again, the illustrious tale of Britain’s aircraft carriers to be told, and enjoyed, for many more generations to come.”

Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director General of The National Museum of the Royal Navy says,

“The re-imagining of the Carrier Experience to include the Queen Elizabeth Class, the pride of the British fleet, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the history of naval aviation and telling the story of the contemporary navy. This mix of heritage and modernity mirrors the projects that Vice Admiral Sir Donald Gosling KCVO, Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom so generously supported over the years.

 

“I am certain that the work of the staff team, contractors and corporate partner Lockheed Martin has brought to life the Carrier story in the way that Sir Donald had in mind when he made his legacy gift.  It is both an honour and a pleasure to recognise his lifelong support with this exhibition, which is housed in The Gosling Hall.”

Rotec were chosen to complete the works due to their impressive ability to combine hydraulics with complex electronic control systems. The works were completed in a matter of weeks, on schedule and to a high standard.

For further information on the expansive range of services Rotec offers, including case studies of other works, visit www.rotec.net.