Company Report: Steinmüller Engineering Services

Steinmüller spares no effort in looking after and keeping th

The Technical Services department has the experience and cap

The Field Services Engineering Division has a team of 20 Eng

Steinmüller in South Africa is a well-known company specializing in, among other things, the design, manufacture, construction and maintenance and spare part offerings in pressure parts for boilers. Since its establishment in 1962, the Group has been providing a comprehensive range of technical, engineering, maintenance and project management services, as well as plant and equipment hire and various innovative technologies. The company’s mission states that it aims “To deliver value, innovation and customer focused service by applying state-of-the-art methods in our business performance in order to extract maximum return on investment for both shareholders and clients”.

Steinmüller counts companies, project houses and leading utilities in selected market segments in the power generation, chemical and petrochemical, paper and pulp, mining and mineral beneficiation, and steel and allied industries among its clients.

OUT AND ABOUT AT POWER STATIONS
“We have a permanent presence at around 11 power stations, where we maintain and optimize plant operations, extend plant life cycle or bring mothballed stations back into service. We have played a leading role in the highly successful de-mothballing Camden, Komati and Grootvlei power stations” says Business Development Consultant Bob Stevens. He attributes the growth in the company’s stature to the long-term relationships such as the maintenance contract with Eskom now in its eighth year and a ten year Mill and Feeder contract with petrochemical giant, Sasol.

The most recent ventures by Steinmüller include a new factory that opened in July 2009 and has already expanded from the original 27,000 square metres to the present 55,000 square metres. The new facility is manufacturing boilers for the national power utility’s two new power stations, Medupi and Kusile. “Manpower is up to over 800 already and we are bringing in an exciting new piece of kit, an induction bender system which will be used for bending HP piping,” adds Stevens. Additionally, the group acquired KOG fabricators, a company specializing in low to medium pressure piping systems and the manufacture of the “Lisega” range of pipe supports as well as various stainless steel expansion bellows.

The current focus on pressure parts is a precursor to the next stage - the capability of working in the realm of high pressure feedwater heaters, which in turn will be followed by looking at pressure vessels. Steinmüller’s vision is to eventually conquer the 120 tonne pressure vessel market. The company is clearly not short on ambition and vision. Stevens explains how this is expected to play out. “The key to the future is good management and skilled artisans. We run our own internal training programs at the EBS Academy as well as Eduardo Construction where we hone our artisan and technician skills. These facilities located in Bethal, Witbank and Pretoria are going full-bore to equip our artisans and graduates with the necessary skills and knowledge.”

Skilled staff is in short supply the world over, and according to Stevens, Steinmüller spares no effort in looking after and keeping the best personnel. “We make a conscious effort to discuss the future of the company, where we intend going and where people would fit in. This is an ongoing process aimed at showing our people that the company is making progress and instilling in them the desire to move with it.”

But what are the individual departments of the firm and what do they do? Well, firstly, the Technical Services Department, with a team of over 80 Engineers equipped with core competencies such as the commissioning of new plants, re-commissioning of plants after outages or maintenance interventions and boiler and boiler auxiliary plant optimization. The section’s other activities include providing process specialists to industry for due diligence, fault finding and root cause analysis of incidents or occurrences, the generating of technical documentation with focus on technical-, operating- and maintenance manuals, client interface for the development of new projects during technical assessments and feasibility studies, assistance with technical and financial analysis of projects or modifications on plant, maintenance engineering for plant shut down management for maintenance and repair activities.

TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
The Technical Services department specializes in the design of boiler pressure parts, but has the experience and capability to perform a variety of engineering tasks. The website lists the capabilities. Firstly, Boiler & Mechanical Component Design: “Boilers constitute the main system driving all modern coal fired power stations. Their constituent pressure parts components must be designed according to international design codes of practice such as ASME I, EN 12952 and older standards such as BS1113 and TRD. We have the capability to design new boilers as well as any design changes required to improve on efficiency, availability and reliability”.

Within the Bilfinger Berger Power Services group of companies, Steinmüller has access to the know-how on the use of the novel alloy materials required for the modern super-critical steam plants which operate at very high temperatures and pressures.

During many designs and failure investigations design calculations according to the standards do not provide the necessary detail to assess the component. In such cases Steinmuller use specialized Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software such as ANSYS to analyse the specific components. This type of analysis provides full detail on the stresses and the displacements within a component.

To ensure that the design detail is correctly communicated for fabrication and construction, drawings showing the necessary detail must be generated. The firm has its own drawing office, with experienced draughtsmen and women.

PROCESS ANAYLSIS AND DESIGN
“Conceptual boiler design involves interpretation of client specification and analysis of specified fuels and steam requirements to allow conceptual layout and sizing of all boiler heating surfaces to achieve client requirements. This information is used to build a computer based simulation model of the boiler which allows the prediction of its thermal performance under various load conditions”.

Steinmuller’s in-house analytical capabilities in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and process know-how as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) affords their clients expertise not only in setting up new plant, but in extracting maximum return on their existing plant. With over thirty commissioning and field services engineers operating at various power generation and utility plants in South Africa, Steinmuller offers a variety of services from collating actual plant operating parameters and specialized technical input such as fuel and combustion analysis interpretation as well heat transfer.

This data is used to build computer models on which a variety of operating conditions can be tested before being recommended for implementation, thereby ensuring the clients enjoy certainty of the output and moreover saves time and money.

Basic and detailed engineering of boiler and plant control systems include drawing up Process and Instrumentation Diagrams P&ID’s, Control philosophies, measuring equipment specification, and control equipment specification.

FIELD SERVICES AND COMMISSIONING
The Field Services Engineering Division has a team of 20 Engineers with core competencies such as the commissioning of new plants, re-commissioning of plants after outages or maintenance interventions and boiler and boiler auxiliary plant optimization.

The section’s other activities include providing process specialists to industry for due diligence, fault finding and root cause analysis of incidents or occurrences, the generating of technical documentation with focus on technical, operating and maintenance manuals, client interface for the development of new projects during technical assessments and feasibility studies, assistance with technical and financial analysis of projects or modifications on plant, maintenance engineering for plant shut down management for maintenance and repair activities.

With the design background of the full range on boiler components the company is in a position to perform analysis work on the failures that may occur in these components. Having the design background and years of experience in the field, Steinmuller is capable of making practical recommendations for short and long term repair work and other preventative measures, which will still satisfy the requirements of the design codes and Statutory Inspection Authorities.

HIGH PRESSURE PIPING
The HP Pipework Engineering Group specializes in engineering work on High Pressure (HP) piping systems at existing and new conventional thermal power stations and industrial HP piping systems. The flexibility and stress analyses of the piping system is undertaken using the COADE, CAESAR II programme. Typically the designs are to international codes of practice such as BS 806, EN 13480, TRD & ASME codes.

The numerous rehabilitation projects undertaken right across South Africa cover a range of practical solution ranging from piping and hanger surveys, hanger sizing, calibration and refurbishment. More importantly the HP/T piping division provides on-site methodologies for erection and technical supervision of construction teams.

Additionally the company assists its clients with remnant life assessments as well as maintaining databases of metallurgical condition on these critical systems in the transporting superheated steam.

The launch in April 2010 of BHR Piping at the new Pretoria Works, will herald a further significant step in ensuring a one stop shop for clients in both coal and nuclear power plants as well as other steam reticulating plant in general.

A HIGH STANDARD OF HEALTH AND SAFETY
Health and safety is of critical importance in the engineering and construction industry. “We have a sophisticated safety system in place because we simply cannot afford to leave people’s lives to chance out on the sites and in the works,” says Stevens. “The environments where we work are fraught with danger, but we anticipate the risks as far as possible. We are credited for engineering and manufacturing to ISO9001-2008 standards and we have been accredited with PED so that we can export to Europe,” he adds.

Stevens goes on to highlight what keeps Steinmüller ahead of the competition. “It’s the technology that sets us apart. We have a strong engineering arm and tremendous backing from our associate companies overseas, as well as support services in engineering and nuclear. Steinmüller is also a financially sound company.”

On the 25th of July last year, Steinmüller Africa entertained 300 dignitaries, government officials, media and other key stakeholders at the official launch of its new state-of-the-art pressure parts manufacturing facility. His Excellency the German ambassador to South Africa, Dieter Haller, did the official honours of cutting the ribbon and declaring the fabrication facility open.

As there are limited similar manufacturing facilities for large boilers in South Africa, the launch heralded an exciting new strategic direction for the company. The 55000 m2 high-tech facility has a number of bays and will produce pressure parts such as headers, heat exchangers and membrane waterwalls for steam generators and industrial applications. At full capacity it will be able to produce three giant boiler units a year.

Steinmüller Africa is already ISO 9001- 2000 accreditation( presently finalizing 2008 version) and has PED accreditation it also aims to achieve ASME accreditation in the near future. Due to the anticipated growth in the power generation, petrochemical and industrial sectors in South Africa, the timing could not be better for adding manufacturing capacity to the group’s existing offerings.

Managing Director Herman Brümmer explains: “We have set our sights on being internationally competitive, and the Steinmüller fabrication facility in Pretoria will serve the Southern African, European, Middle Eastern, Australian and South American markets. Going forward, we are extending our product line to high pressure piping and vessels.

“We were lucky enough to secure the required quality and quantity of qualified manpower such as welders, fitters, boilermakers, inspection and managerial staff. The facility will initially employ about 400 members of staff but there is an artisan training centre on site and this will allow us to train up new staff to reach the maximum capacity of 1,000 in due course.

“Skills development, especially of women, is vital in a growing economy such as South Africa. Our new factory is able to accommodate 150 female staff and this number can easily be increased.”

Gerd Lesser, CEO of Bilfinger Berger Power Services attended the launch and highlighted the fact that the R100 million investment was strongly influenced by the good performance and solid growth of Steinmüller during the past few years. Mr Lesser believes that South Africa has development potential and that power generation is a core industry for allowing the potential to grow.

Innovation is certainly a high priority in this company as it is constantly striving for new opportunities and investments to raise the bar. Steinmüller’s target is clear: “We’ll be sitting down to do our strategic planning on how to realize our ambition of trebling our turnover in the next five years,” says Stevens. Steinmüller is a company with growth and improvement at its heart, and we wish them all the best for the future.

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