Paul Prouse foreword for BFPDA

Rotec’s own Managing Director, Paul Prouse, was selected to hold a chairman position for the BFPDA (British Fluid Power Distributors Association) throughout 2016. In his 2017 foreword for the association’s publication ‘Yearbook & Members Directory’, Paul talks about two of the topics dominating the headlines of newspapers across the world; Brexit and Women in power…

“It is hard to put pen to paper and not talk about Brexit, the topic has dominated the headlines throughout 2016 cultivated continuously by everyone from small SMEs through to large corporate businesses trying to second guess what ‘best strategy’ for their business should take whilst the politicians arguably find themselves with a task to extract the UK from Europe that in reality, the net effect is unknown along with strategy or policy that was never scripted.

I will come back to Brexit. In the meantime, what has also been interesting throughout the year and in part has caused me to reflect on the situation within the trade members of BFPDA and our industry as a whole is the renewed emphasis on women within the industry. The global stage has been dominated by Mrs Merkel, Mrs May and the near miss of Mrs Clinton joining the ranks as respective leaders of 3 of the world’s wealthiest nations providing a healthy balance in tipping the scales that in part have been dominated by men.”

read the FULL ARTICLE

Rotec repair CGG Veritas’ seismic system in Colombia

CGG Veritas and Rotec Hydraulics have a long history of working together.

CGG is a leader in cutting-edge geoscience. Their commitment to providing innovative and sustainable solutions has seen them crowned a leader in their field. The technology, services and equipment they provide is designed to collect data and images of the sub-surface with great precision. CGG help the oil and gas industry to develop a deeper understanding of the subsurface exploration via state-of-the-art software and data analysis services.

Rotec supplied the company with enormous power packs in past and, in 2010, was contracted again, this time to equip their seismic ship Oceanic Sirius with a bespoke air reduction panel. The large panel is designed to work with a system that maps the sea bed for oil industry. Using acoustic sources towed behind the ship to shoot out high frequency sound waves that bounce off of different layers of the seabed’s sub-surface and get picked up by hydrophones, working a bit like an ultrasound. This data is then recorded and interpreted, helping the experts to make informed decisions about new drilling locations.

Find out more about seismic mapping in THIS VIDEO

The Rotec reduction panel is designed to routinely regulate between air pressure of 140 bar and 30 bar when not in use and was

Reduction Panel on Oceanic Sirius

manufactured in 2010, installed and commissioned on the ship in 2011, running smoothly until a major overhaul in January 2016, when the system had to go through its pressure equipment certification. The system performed great during the testing, but started having problems following the overhaul.

At first the capable CGG engineers were attempting to tackle the issue with Rotec’s telephonic guidance, but due to the nature of their jobs (12 hour shifts and swapping of engineering crews every 5 weeks with practically zero downtime), it was near impossible. They decided to contract one of Rotec’s engineers to repair the system. Claire Brown was scheduled to meet the ship in Barranquilla (Colombia) in September and after a 25 hour journey and a day’s wait she finally boarded the ship together with a group of contractors that were servicing and working on other parts of the ship.

This is what Claire had to say about the experience

“The hotel I was staying in was lovely, but I was advised not to venture outside. The government is currently building new infrastructure, but the city’s poverty is tangible as things stand at the moment. The relative luxury of the hotel was a stark contrast to what unravelled in front of me on our way to the port. I would have liked to see more of the city or the country of course, to form a more complete picture. The mosquito repellent I brought definitely came in handy; they were everywhere (laughing),”

After the initial compulsory ship orientation, Claire got shown to the Chief mechanic, and by 3pm she identified and repaired the problem. However they could not test the system while the ship was still docked, as the air powered guns used to blast out the acoustic waves go off rather loudly. Once out at sea the system performed well and Claire spent additional 5 days on board of Sirius going through their kit, and making sure they had everything they needed, ordering additional items.

Claire says “I quite like going off to places and seeing how other people live, but also I like working with different people. The crew was made up of many different nationalities (British, Canadian, Norwegian, Lithuanian, French, Spanish, Filipino and American). These guys are working such long hours, live in a restricted space but they get on so well, it was pretty inspirational. They make light of the stereotypes, for example they dubbed me as the ‘posh’ one, because of my british accent (laughs)”

Update: Claire has been back for a couple of months and there have been no problems with the system. We are looking forward to offering our marine expertise to the company in future.

Author: Sarka Humpolcova

Date: 03/01/2017

Rotec were happy to be associated with this years Brixham Trawler Race

Rotec were proud to be associated with this year’s Brixham Trawler race. The race took place on 18th June 2016 in Brixham,the trawler race is the highlight in the ports year and celebrates its maritime excellence. Boats are dressed with bunting and battle it out with a race around the bay. The event is held annually to raise money for local charities, in 2015 over £21,000 was raised. Donations in the past have been made to various charities these include: Brixham’s Fisherman’s Mission, Shoalstone Pool, Brixham Gig Club, Brixham Rugby Club and the Museum.

For results of the race and photos go to Port of Brixham Trawler Race on Facebook.

Next year’s Race is planned for 17^th June 2017.

Seawork Mayflower Park Southampton -14th to 16th June 2016

Rotec is pleased to be exhibiting at the Seawork International show again this year, accumulation of previous year’s successes and association with the show that has become one of the best marine and workboat shows in Europe.

Joining Rotec this year will be Ram Reman Ltd, Ram Reman specialize in the manufacture, repair and overhaul of hydraulic cylinders for the marine and offshore market. Conveniently based close to the South Coast between Poole and Bournemouth, with easy striking distance to the major port areas of Portsmouth and Southampton, Ram Reman will be presenting cylinder manufacturing and overhaul capability and services to enlighten any workboat manufacturer or Skipper!

Working closely together, Rotec and Ram Reman have become one of the leading hydraulic system design and manufacturing teams in the UK supported by long standing distributorships with Parker Hannifin in providing quality systems with experienced engineers and specialized equipment for manufacturing cylinders in house.

Visit Rotec and Ram Reman at Seawork Mayflower Park, Southampton on the 14th to 16th June 2016. Stand PB129

Rotec staff training

Rotec are pleased to announce that a number of our engineers have attended and passed the National Fluid Power Centre accredited training programme.

Claire Brown – ‘qualified electronics engineer’ has now passed Stage 2 Hydraulics (industrial) , Claire’s additional skills qualification is on the back of many years’ experience with Rotec covering manufacturing and service support on site with a wide range of industrial, mobile and marine applications.. Well done Claire!!

Phil Mees – Phil, Hydraulic Engineer has passed Stage 1 Hydraulics, Phil joined the team 2 years ago providing a wide range of skills from manufacturing, fabrication and now hydraulics. Phil will now be headed for Stage 2, well done!

Phil Murrant – Hydraulic Engineer – Phil has now passed level 2 Industrial Hydraulics, whilst majority of Phil’s time is spent working on mobile machinery, the Industrial course provided course topics that had benefits across mobile and industrial applications. Well done Phil!

Dan Foster – Dan is our electrical apprentice, currently 2 years into his HNC apprenticeship supported by Bridgwater College. Dan’s determination has seen a transition from the hose and connectors side of the business to a dedicated and keen member of the engineering team. Dan has attended and passed Stage 2 Hydraulics – Well done Dan.

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