AESSEAL® completes £1.2 million Test House refurbishment

Young engineers of the future will be among the guests when AESSEAL® officially reopens its mechanical seal Test House following an upgrade totalling more than £1.2 million.

The event, on Wednesday November 6th, will run alongside an open evening held by the Rotherham-based manufacturer of mechanical seals and support systems to attract more South Yorkshire students into a career in engineering.

The test centre, where the company’s mechanical seals and compressor dry gas seals are assembled and put through rigorous tests ensuring they meet the highest quality and performance standards, has undergone a major refurbishment over the past two years.

The entire test house facility has been reorganised and refurbished to allow for expansion of our compressor dry gas seal business, the first element of which was the introduction of a large diameter test rig which allows us to refurbish and dynamically test seals up to 380mm (14.96”) shaft diameter and was officially opened in 2017.

This final phase has seen AESSEAL® invest a further £800,000 in another four state-of-the-art test rigs, with a fifth due to arrive in 2020. This will ensure the testing process is even more efficient and accurate.

AESSEAL® Technical Director, Andrew Colverson, said: “The investment in the test centre over the past two years ensures we can maintain our award-winning customer service well into the future.
“All our test rigs can be run on an automated basis, leaving operators more time to focus on preparation and post-test analysis. They are also user friendly, which means new test technicians can be trained quickly, adding another efficiency to this rapidly expanding area of our business.”

Rotherham Council leader Chris Read will carry out the reopening ceremony. Councillor Read commented: “This is another very welcome investment from one of our flagship local employers. It ensures more real careers in engineering are an option for our young people as we continue to develop Rotherham’s new manufacturing economy.”

The open evening is part of two days of visits to AESSEAL® by year seven and eight students, including one focusing on ‘women in engineering’, which involves 80 female students.

Andrew Colverson added: “As our business grows it’s crucial that we meet the demand for more people to fill the additional engineering jobs and supporting roles.
“These visits show young people that engineering offers a wide variety of professional career opportunities and is a far cry from the ‘grease and overalls’ image some might have imagined.”