Archived News
Filter Helps Test Subsea Pipelines
Croft Engineering Services has produced filters used in testing undersea oil and gas pipelines.
The 18, 50 micron filters are part of a 'pigging unit', a device that floods subsea pipelines pushing through 'pigs', or rubber plugs, which clean the lines and disperse any debris.
They have been manufactured for Xiom Scotland, specialists in blast cleaning, thermal plastic spraying and coating and offshore energy services, to replace the existing filters that were in poor condition.
Two of Croft's engineers spent 30 hours working on CAD drawings, ensuring the technical calculations were exact.
Using their specialist knowledge of which materials and specifications would work best for the task at hand, they decided to replace the outer mesh of the filters with perforated plates.
The filters will be used to sift seawater in the testing and commissioning of gas and oil pipelines off the coast of Nigeria.
They filter any debris from the sea water before it passes into a pump. The water is then pumped through the pipes to weight them to the seabed and also to pass through the 'pigs'.
Rob Watkins, Sales and Marketing Manager at Croft, said: "This was a challenging job that involved more than 250 hours work and a multitude of CAD drawings.
"Our team did a fantastic job and Xiom were very pleased with the result."
Croft on track with F1 team
One of the world's most successful racing teams has called on Croft Engineering Services to help keep their motors running.
The company gave Croft the contract to produce 40 inlet filters, which help to maximize the injection of fuel into the engine by reducing the chance of blockage from debris in the fuel tank. This reduces the chances of a drop in fuel pressure – keeping the cars running more efficiently and helping them remain competitive at the top level of motorsport. The specialist filters were manufactured at Croft's Cheshire production facility using precision equipment and utilizing the skills of staff acquired over many years in a variety of sectors. They were produced to exacting standards from a detailed specification and dispatched in time for testing before a recent race. Neil Burns, partner at Croft, said: "We have worked with motor racing companies before which is one reason we were entrusted with this special assignment. There is now special interest in every Formula 1 race as we watch the cars with our filters built into them." Rob Watkins commented that, " amongst the staff there is always a bit of a buzz when we get a big name organization using our services and in this case there are number of staff with a special interest in motor racing."
Neil Burns said, "Our employees always take great pride in their work, but it is a real boost to see our customers go on to have successes and knowing we had a small part in that." Motor racing and F1 is the latest high profile sector to become a Croft customer which is celebrating 25 years of manufacturing in the UK this year and has coincidentally just had the most successful month ever this August. It once again underlines the need for quality, consistency and excellent service from customers who need performance and reliability from a supplier.
Winners of the Warrington Business Awards 2008 ‘Customer Care Award’ (18/07/08).
Croft Engineering Services was presented with the ‘Customer Care Award’ at the ninth annual Warrington Business Awards, sponsored by the Warrington Borough Council, Warrington Guardian and the North-West development agency. This award recognises the high quality customer service we provide for our customers, and the hard work and determination of meeting the customers needs our team provides.
Our dedication to striving to exceed the high expectations of our customers has kept our customers returning to us for new innovative solutions to their filtering needs, and for repeat orders from the designs we keep on file for customers, allowing for a very short turnaround on our services.
We invest significant resources liaising with our customers where needed, in order to fully understand the individualised needs they have in their operations, and provide solutions and products to their precise specifications.
This acknowledgement of our outstanding customer care, provides a benchmark for excellence throughout the region for the importance of customer service quality and for the high level of service a prospective customer can expect from our company.
Warrington Business Awards '08 'Customer Care Award'
Warrington Business Awards 2008 'Innovation and Research Award' (18/07/08).
Highly commended in the category were Croft Engineering Services.
World Filtration Congress - Exhibition (28.03.08)
Croft Engineering Services will be exhibiting at the 10th World Filtration Congress in Leipzig, Germany 14 until 18 April 2008. Please visit us at exhibition stand B26.
Resilient spirit helps Croft to rebuild (20.08.07)
One of the buildings at our facility in Risley suffered significant storm damage due to the high winds in January 2007. This caused injuries to a number of staff and temporarily affected production. However the resilient spirit of the company’s staff has enabled the business to bounce back with re-building now reaching completion and manufacturing capabilities approaching previous levels of production.
Croft Interchange (20.08.07)
Driven by the idea that many companies spend thousands of pounds every year on throwaway filters, the "Croft Interchange" is a new service created by Croft Engineering Services, of Risley, Warrington, which aims to replace throwaway filters with metal filters, capable of being cleaned and refurbished.
The Croft Interchange has been created as part of a Shell STEP programme, aiming to minimise the wasteful practice of throwing away filters, which draws on more resources, harming the environment.
The Aftermath Of The Storm...(05.02.07)
On Thursday 18th January 2007 at 1.15pm, our facility in Risley was battered by very high winds. The roof began to move and the eventually broke showering debris onto a number of our employees. The gable end was also blown down. Unfortunately six of our employees were injured. The main manufacturing unit is currently undergoing repairs, steel work and new roofing sections are being installed. We still do not have all our machinery back in operation, but in true Croft spirit we have continued to despatch goods and the business remains operational. Clearly the storm has caused disruption and we would ask all our customers to help us by giving us a little more lead time, while we fix the damage. We continue to provide an unrivalled service for all types of perforated, plate, woven wire and mesh filters.