Mirror Image Facility

Cover story.qxp:Machinery 30/5/08 16:10 Page 16

Mirror image facility

Demand for oil is accelerating, and with its price on the world market soaring, oil production investment is booming. A Scottish sub-contractor has moved closer to the action in Dubai. Machinery reports

he prospect of capitalising on Dubai’s income, stable federation of seven to be part of a project 3,568 miles away T oil industry sub-contract machining emirates with the second largest Arab from the NTS headquarters in Aberdeen and component repair market, reckoned economy in the Middle East. It has the was not taken lightly. It would: to be 50 times larger than the UK’s, has fifth largest proven oil reserves in the ❐ Involve an initial investment (in the understandably proved irresistible to the Middle East. first 12 months) of £1 million; and management team at Northeast The emirate of Abu Dhabi is the centre ❐ Require an inordinate amount of time Technology Solutions (NTS). of the oil and gas industry, followed by – at least 12 months – and resources to The United Arab Emirates (UAE), of Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah. Abu get it off the ground. Today, a year after which Dubai is a member, is a high Dhabi and Dubai account for 80 per cent NTS ME (Middle East) opened for of the UAE’s income. business, managing director Jan Abu Dhabi is the major hydrocarbon Wojcieszyn has no doubts that he made and industrial power while Dubai is the the right choice. trading, financial and tourist centre of the “The factory, with 20 employees, has emirates– the Burj Al Arab hotel, right, is been working round-the-clock from day already a recognised structure world one and has already gained three wide, and the UAE’s non-oil sectors grew additional new customers,” he says. 18.6 per cent in 2006 and have tripled “Indeed, such has been the level of over the last three years. advancement there that we are now Yet while good relations with Asian looking for a much larger space than our trading partners and a growing existing 10,000 ft2, to accommodate domestic population have helped further workshop expansion.” diversify their economies, the Emirates remain dependent on oil revenue. QUALITY FROM SCOTLAND Indeed, they have announced large NTS ME’s ability to mirror its Aberdeen oil production capacity increases parent’s supply of high integrity, high within the next seven years. The UAE is strength components produced from scheduled to boost oil production by materials such as non-magnetic and more than 10 per cent to three million Super Duplex stainless steels – and to barrels per day in 2012 as part of meticulously duplicate component weld collective OPEC (Organisation of the repair procedures – is based on Petroleum Exporting Countries) plans to manufacturing processes and quality expand crude supply capability, it has plans laid down in Scotland and available been reported. to the Dubai engineers 24/7 via the Even against this background, and the company’s server. fact that the exciting potential of The operation is geared around establishing a production facility in the maintaining uptimes for oil companies’ United Arab Emirates was based on a fleets of drilling equipment. Until NTS four-year master vendor contract with an ME’s arrival, companies in Dubai were existing major customer, the decision requesting workpieces from their parent operations in America or Scotland, and sending their repairs there. This not only incurred disproportionate costs, it also meant long lead times.

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Importantly, the Middle East operation has also proved to Mr Wojcieszyn that the essential skills that seem so thin on the ground in the UK are such engineering not only readily available in Dubai – via skills and lower overheads, I India – but also cost a lot less. can produce complex workpieces and “I have a reliable and highly skilled carry out high class repairs very cost workforce, of whom at least 50 per cent effectively. I’m happy, my employees are are graduates,” he says. “Pay rates are also happy and my customers are happy, too.” Sea oil and gas companies and relatively low – my CNC operators receive specialising in the production of high £75 per week (four times the sum they MBO THEN OPPORTUNITY integrity components”, he explains. would be able to earn in India for a The opportunity to establish NTS ME “We need to have complete faith in similar role) and that compares with arose just six months after Jan the machine tools (see box item) we use anything up to £18 per hour in the UK, Wojcieszyn – a time-served toolmaker and be confident they can consistently though we do also provide their whose CV includes 12 years running a achieve the desired quality and accommodation, food, transport and plastic injection mould tool operation in repeatability.” It is not uncommon for return air fares for holidays.” the Midlands – completed a some of the more complex down-hole Mr Wojcieszyn adds: “Material prices management buyout of NTS. The drilling components produced to be up to for stainless steels are similar to those in company was immediately relocated 5 m long and 250 mm diameter, and the UK, but carbon steels can be cheaper from Caithness to Aberdeen, “to be at the require as much as 300 hours of since they are imported from India. With centre of the supply hub serving North machining.

Hankook Protec lathe attracts new business for NTS ME

Sourcing and installing machines for NTS ME was The Protec CNC 2-axis lathe with 4,000 mm between centres straightforward, says managing director Jan Wojcieszyn, has a large spindle bore (up to 254 mm), twin chucks, a 950 mm “because we basically purchased the machines in the UK, swing over bed, 630 mm swing over the carriage and 4,000 mm including a Hankook CNC lathe from Ward CNC of Sheffield, a 6 m between centres (options up to 8,000 mm are available). The bed milling machine and a large-capacity oil country lathe machine is also equipped with a specialised boring saddle and purchased direct from Australia”. boring equipment for through-bore applications. When the Dubai project arose, Jan Wojcieszyn knew there “The Hankook CNC lathe is a major reason why we’ve been was no need to move away from the production engineering able to attract new business [at NTS ME],” concludes NTS’ regimes that were proving so successful in Aberdeen, “where a managing director, who adds: “Word about the machine has pair of 6,000 mm between centres oil country lathes have more spread fast!” than proved their worth”, he says. “But we needed to quickly get a suitable large capacity lathe to Dubai, so we needed to source a comparable machine that was available immediately. Ward CNC was able to satisfy the need; we ordered the machine in the UK and Ward arranged for it to be shipped from manufacturer Hankook’s factory in Korea directly to Dubai.” In fact the Hankook is the latest in a line of machines that Sheffield-based machine tool specialist Ward CNC has sold and supplied to machining facilities in the Middle East. Machines are supplied via a Middle East agent which takes care of everything – from getting the machine released from the docks, through installation, training and commissioning, as well as servicing.

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The company’s continuing success is in locating suitable premises in the Dubai also based on its ability to produce API Free Zone – which eliminated the need threads: the ISO 9001:2000 and for Arab shareholders – and they TS29001-accredited operation is also navigated the complex channels of certified to API Specification Q1 and API. bureaucracy required for setting up a API (American Petroleum Institute) company, then recruited staff through an thread standard Q1 is one of around 500 agency in Mumbai.” standards and recommended practices The team of Indian operators – who that, for more than 75 years, has seen API have good command of English – is at the head of the development of managed by an NTS director and a petroleum and petrochemical equipment manager; the only UK ex-patriots, in fact. and operating standards. These standards Mr Wojcieszyn also pays two-monthly cover everything from drill bits to visits to keep abreast of events. environmental protection and embrace Reflecting on the past 24 months, proven, sound engineering and operating Mr Wojcieszyn is clear that the project practices and safe, interchangeable wasn’t without its worries, of course: equipment and materials. “Even though the four year master The nature of the machining vendor programme underpinned the operations means batch sizes tend to be whole project, we at NTS were adamant small – mainly three to 25-offs, with from the start that such a sizeable many one-offs processed. However, the investment overseas – without any move to a new, larger site in Dubai will government assistance – just had to be enable the company to meet demands for based on a joint venture with a slightly larger batch machining. company that understood the NTS ME is, in fact, the result of a joint idiosyncrasies of the country. We were investment and partnership between NTS very lucky to have found the right and a Norwegian oil company having 20 partner.” years’ experience in Middle East. With oil prices hitting record highs “For such a project, we knew it was weekly, and with forecasts of $200/barrel essential to capitalise on ‘local’ being mooted, those in the oil equipment knowledge and, once we established the supply industry – like NTS – can look partnership, our Norwegian friends took forward to several years of increasing the lead role (with our input, of course) demand.■