Member Article

North-East systems firm boosts Tees steel rebirth

The completion of a £250,000 contract to help bring steel-maker SSI’s new Pulverised Coal Injection (PCI) plant online has further enhanced the growing reputation of a North-East systems integrator.

Applied Integration, which has been shortlisted for both Company of the Year and the Manufacturing gong in the North East Business Awards, carried out the design, development and installation of the automation and control systems for the world-class Teesside facility.

The £37 million plant has increased the output of the SSI’s blast furnace, helping to safeguard thousands of local jobs.

Specialising in providing cutting edge solutions to a wide range of 21st Century industries, Stokesley-based Applied Integration beat international opposition to clinch the deal with engineering experts Siemens, who built the plant.

A five-strong Applied Integration team worked on the design and build of software and electrical panels over six months, with factory testing carried out at the firm’s Stokesley HQ before delivery of the overall control system ahead of commissioning.

The PCI facility - the largest of its kind in the world - blows finely powdered coal into the centre of the furnace, speeding up the steelmaking process.

The safety-critical control systems provide plant operators with visual access to the overall conditions on the £37 million plant, which recently completed a long start-up procedure with the injection of coal for the first time.

“While the SSI plant is right on our doorstep, we faced competition for the deal from long-established, global rivals, so winning the contract was a reflection on our growing reputation within the industry,” said Lee Raywood, the firm’s managing director and technical software lead, who worked on the Redcar plant whilst completing a multi-skilled apprenticeship with IMS Lycrete in the early 1990s.

“While the project served as a personal trip down memory lane for me, it was fantastic for all at Applied Integration to work on such an important asset within one of our key local industries.

“As a proud Teesside company, we were privileged to have played our part in helping to bring steel-making back to the area and secure a major part of Teesside’s industrial heritage.

“Seeing steel-making thriving once again here in the North-East can only be great news for independent local businesses like ours who can provide vital support facilities.

Having launched the company with fellow directors Roy Coleman, Garry Lofthouse and Graham King in 2005, Mr Raywood’s firm now employs 30 staff with a further recruitment drive for experienced and graduate engineers underway to meet an increasing workload.

“Despite our rapid growth during the recession, we remain small within the industry but we are proud to have some truly world-class contracts on our books,” said Mr Raywood, who worked on the SSI project with senior engineer Jon Dyson and engineer Dominic Spillane.

Among its ongoing projects, Applied Integration is currently designing and developing control systems for some of the world’s most technologically advanced attack submarines on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dave Allan Communications .