22,000 m²under oneroof

What 22,000 m² under one roof actually means

Floor space guarantees nothing in itself; what matters is what occupies it. The site is laid out as an uninterrupted route for the product: metalworking shops, welding bays, assembly, painting, stores and test rigs all stand on one site and are linked into a single technological chain. A workpiece never leaves the premises between operations.

For you this is a question of accountability and lead time. When cutting, welding, painting and testing are carried out by different subcontractors, every handover costs days in logistics and blurs responsibility: an argument over who caused a deviation is usually settled at the customer's expense. Here a single organisation answers for the boiler, from the steel plate to the signed test report.

Why cutting accuracy of ±0.5 mm matters long before welding

The quality of a boiler is set by the first operation. An error in cutting does not disappear; it turns into a weld gap that then has to be filled with deposited metal. Excess metal in the seam means greater heat input, higher residual stresses and a risk of distorting the shell. That is why we hold accuracy at the cutting stage instead of trimming parts to fit later.

CNC plasma, two machines

Cutting of plate up to 80 mm thick to within ±0.5 mm — the main tool for shell components and thick-walled parts that work under pressure.

Laser cutting, one machine

Precision cutting of thin sheet and complex profiles: casings, flue and air duct components, parts with location holes.

The division between plasma and laser is not duplication but economics. There is no sense in cutting thick plate with a laser, and it is wasteful to put thin casing sheet full of holes through the plasma machine. The right operation delivers accuracy and cost efficiency together: nesting layouts are optimised, and less plate scrap means less steel in the price of the boiler.

Rolling and welding: how a shell up to 4 m in diameter takes shape

After cutting, flat plate becomes a cylinder. Four plate-rolling machines form shells of up to 4 m in diameter, which covers the whole standard range and most bespoke projects. The quality of the rolling determines how evenly the edges meet for the longitudinal seam: the more accurate the geometry, the more consistent the penetration. Welding here is divided by purpose.

Submerged arc welding, six stations

Automated welding of the longitudinal seams of boiler shells. The machine holds the set parameters along the full length of the seam, regardless of the shift pattern or operator fatigue.

MIG/MAG welding, 18 stations

Semi-automatic welding of assembly seams and attached components: nozzles, supports, brackets and pipework, where access to confined spaces is needed.

The ratio between the stations reflects the structure of the work: there are not many long critical seams, but they are the ones that determine the service life of the product, which is why they are given to automation. Pressure-bearing seams are made by qualified welders, and inspection is carried out by our own NDT technicians — not called in for the acceptance, but present in the process at all times.

Surface preparation and painting: why we take the steel to Sa 2½

A coating holds on the preparation, not on the paint. If mill scale and traces of corrosion are left on the surface, any coating will flake off during the first seasons, however much it cost. Three shot-blasting chambers prepare the surface to Sa 2½: the steel gains both cleanliness and the roughness needed for adhesion.

Two paint booths work with heat-resistant and acid-resistant coatings and are equipped with forced drying. Heat-resistant compounds are used near hot zones, acid-resistant ones where flue-gas condensate may form. Forced drying is not there for speed: it cures the coating under controlled conditions rather than at whatever humidity the shop happens to have.

Testing: 40 bar hydrostatic and 16 bar pneumatic before dispatch

No product leaves the factory untested. Five rigs mean tests are carried out without queuing and without any temptation to shorten the procedure for the sake of a dispatch plan: hydrostatic tests are run at up to 40 bar, pneumatic tests at up to 16 bar. The hydrostatic test confirms the strength and tightness of the pressure parts, the pneumatic test the tightness of the flue and air path.

The result is recorded in a report that forms part of the data book and is handed over to you with the boiler. You are welcome to witness the tests at our site in person or through your own technical inspection body. That is cheaper than finding a leak after installation: rectifying a defect in the shop takes hours, on site it takes weeks and the removal of pipework.

420 people: who actually builds your boiler

Machine tools do not run themselves. The structure of the production workforce reflects the full cycle: designers who develop the product and adapt it to your conditions; CNC operators who prepare the nesting layouts; welders qualified for specific types of joint; NDT technicians; commissioning and service engineers who travel to site.

Keeping the design office inside the factory solves a practical problem: a query on a drawing is closed in hours rather than weeks of correspondence, and a change you ask for during approval reaches the product without costing time. Commissioning engineers in the same loop know the construction of the boiler from the assembly stage, and experience from the field returns into the design.

Up to 1,000 boilers a year: how your lead time is built up

The design output of the site is up to 1,000 boilers a year. Volume on that scale gives you what small-batch workshops cannot: settled operations with repeatable results and tooling costs spread across a series. At the same time, bespoke units of up to 60 MW pass through the same bays and the same test rigs. The lead time depends on how far the product departs from a proven design, so we quote it by type of order:

Catalogue model

60–90 days. The design is established, material is in stock, work starts with cutting.

Adapted standard model

75–120 days. A base model with changes for the site: connections, layout, controls.

Bespoke project

90–180 days. A design developed against your technical specification, with calculations and drawing approval.

Made to customer drawings

120–240 days. Manufacture to your documentation, including a manufacturability review.

Spare parts

30–90 days. Individual components and assemblies, including for equipment already in service.

The range within each type is set by specific factors: how long drawing approval takes on your side, any non-standard items in the specification, the scope of works testing and the requirements for the documentation. We fix the date in the contract once those questions are closed, and from then on we work within it. If you need the equipment earlier, say so before signing.