Investing in Scottish industry

Sulzer, an engineering and repair company focuses on rotating equipment such as pumps, motors, generators, compressors and turbines. It has invested heavily in its Scottish operation, building new facilities in addition to bringing in new technical and managerial talent, in order to better serve the needs of Scottish regional customers.

Operations Manager in Scotland for Sulzer, Ross Barraclough explains how the company tailors its wide ranging engineering solutions to suit every customer, land or sea, large or small.

Scotland has a long and distinguished history providing engineering services to a wide range of industries, not least the offshore and military sectors. The local expertise and natural centres of excellence have led companies such as Sulzer to locate strategic service centres across the country.

These form the most basic link with the client – a local point of contact that understands their needs and is capable of delivering a vast range of engineering solutions. Sulzer promotes a team philosophy that combines technical expertise and industry knowledge to ensure that the client receives the best possible solution.

The Aberdeen Service Centre site is at the heart of the oil and gas industry in Scotland. It has both the expertise and the facilities to deliver engineering and maintenance solutions to this specialist sector. Typically this includes the service of all types of motors and generators including all associated site work, pumps that Sulzer also manufactures, as well as compressors and turbines used for power generation.

There is a wealth of experience in Sulzer’s Scottish management team including Jim McClean who has served 25 years and now runs the Facilities Management and Offshore Services team; Murray Smith, with 22 years’ service, who is the Business Development Manager and Jim Watson, with over 25 years in the company, who manages all of the workshop activities including motor rewinds and new motor sales.

In order to meet the needs of every client, no matter what industry they operate in, it is essential that Sulzer identifies the best personnel and positions them correctly within the management framework. In this way, each service centre can maintain the highest standards, and quality of workmanship that the client expects.

In addition to Aberdeen, Sulzer has facilities in Glasgow and Falkirk, with engineers specialising in pumps, motors, mechanical engineering as well as drives and controls. As a group, these service centres offer a wide range of engineering solutions, but as part of the global Sulzer network they offer the most comprehensive service offering available from any independent maintenance provider. Just within the UK, Sulzer operates state-of-the-art design and manufacturing facilities for high voltage coils and large scale pumps, as well as an at-speed balancing bunker for turbine rotors. Further afield, the company continues to invest in maintenance facilities for gas turbines as well as the protective coating technologies that are used in this and many other applications today.

At the heart of this investment, and the reason for developing new technologies and solutions, is the client, who expects a professional and well-managed project, irrespective of the scale.

Ultimately, the investment in people and facilities enables Sulzer to deliver a very flexible service that can be tailored to deliver engineering solutions throughout Scotland. Employing local engineers that understand the needs of the client, providing them with the best design and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities enables them to resolve maintenance issues quickly and efficiently.