The Project
A customer in the wind turbine sector required 15 wind turbine towers supplied in sections for offshore placement in the north sea. Commencement of the project had already been delayed by uncertainty about energy contract prices. Delivery dates would also be key as weather could be a disrupting factor in construction.
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Need/Requirement
Each Tower consisted of up to 18 cone sections 12m x 3m in thicknesses between 10mm and 20mm profiled to a cone shape and weld prepared with single and double vee weld preps as per the customers drawings.
The items would then be rolled and painted prior to final fabrication.
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Specialist Skills
From the beginning of the renewable sector in the UK Brown McFarlane has supplied thousands of wind turbine tower components to varying sizes prepared, rolled and painted. Our highly skilled team are fully aware of the special requirements and organisation needed to support this type of product.
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Capability
Brown McFarlane's access to material and skills required to perfectly execute such projects are known around the world. Our latest technology includes the Infinity Skew Head Plasma, with bevel cutting capability, and demonstrates Brown McFarlane's long held strategy of being the industry leader in technology and innovation.
Brown McFarlane's 100000sqft facility is capable of storing , handling and processing massive tonnages of steel plate. A mixture of more traditional and state of the art Oxy and Plasma equipment means we have the capacity as well as the skills, experience and quality standards to meet the customers requirement.
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The Agreed Solution Scope
Brown McFarlane would use its extensive experience and on hand stocks to provide material ready for final fabrication to the customers schedule. The material would be profiled to exact size and weld prepared at Brown McFarlane’s first class profiling facility in Stoke on Trent UK.
We quickly established a profiling solution that would give the appropriate tolerances and the appropriate Quality Control processes required at all stages of the project. We would provide full dimensional documentation check sheets of each cone section along with full material certification.
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Additional Customer Requirements
Special attention was paid to producing a value for money solution for the customer. Due to the logistics involved, critical factors were; right first time supply, to the correct specification and in the correct sequence.
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The Steel Solution
The material was supplied quickly from our extensive range of material stocks. Customers own CAD drawings were reviewed and tested for sign off prior to production. At each stage stringent dimensional quality checks were enforced.
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The Delivery
Due to Brown McFarlane’s own, extensive know how, coupled with our extensive Western European sourced steel stocks; we were able to provide a materials solution to the customer that completely met with the required specification. On top of this, we were able to provide accurate, cut to size finished profiles, which were delivered to the customers exacting requirement saving the customer time and money.
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The Conclusion
Another satisfied customer! The project went perfectly to plan and was delivered on time to the operator who was delighted with the cones finish and quality. The cones were assembled ready for final onsite fabrication.
With increasing skills shortages and leaner workforces the ability to instantly bring traditional or sophisticated processing to the highest quality standard on demand is something our customers understand and recognise as a vital part of solution provision and fabrication delivery.
All this is another example of our commitment to our customers and demonstrable proof of our ability to assist in the delivery of innovative solutions in full and on time.