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Engineering advances  June - 2010

Engineering advances  February - 2010

Industrial Products Finder, December 2009
 

 
 

PLY WORLD OCT - NOV 2009

 
 

PIX EUROPE ACHIEVES JOINT ACCREDITATION, ISO AND INVESTORS IN PEOPLE.
A FIRST FOR NORFOLK & SUFFOLK

Ipswich based company, PIX Europe Ltd., is proud to announce they have successfully met all the requirements of the external audit carried out by Warwick Management Network, to obtain the ISO9001:2008 standard and Investors in People Bronze Award. This makes them the first Company in Norfolk or Suffolk to successfully complete the new joint assessment for both standards.

These certifications set out the systematic control of activities to ensure that the needs and expectations of employees and customers are met, and ensure that PIX’s management, design and quality control procedures match the highest international standard of service delivery.
Stewart Booth, Operation Director at PIX commented, “We are delighted to have achieved ISO 9001 and Investors in People status, after many months of hard work. They are testament to our commitment to customer satisfaction and continual quality assurance. Our clients demand the best, and our goal is to meet and exceed their expectations. It has improved our competitive position and significantly improved service and quality across our whole business.”

ISO 9001:2008 recognises companies with quality management systems that consistently provide services that exceed customer and regulatory requirements. The certification is awarded to companies that enhance customer satisfaction through quality programmes.

“ISO accreditation is an acknowledgement of our adherence to strict quality standards” continued Stewart “It was not a critical business requirement for us to go for the award, as our manufacturing plants around the world are already certified. However, as we had experienced several years of rapid growth, we saw the process as a way of redesigning our infrastructure, and we have used ISO 9001 as a template for excellence, transforming the business and its processes from the inside out.”

Stewart was very keen to highlight special contributions from the team, which have made the achievements possible. Our Technical Services Manager, George Soanes, has led the project, and his tireless attention to detail has ensured our success. On the Investors in People side, Customer Services Supervisor, Damian Brannigan, did much of the foundation work.

Michael Fredericks, from Warwick Management Network said, “Gaining Investors In People status
was achieved in just 18 months and most importantly without the need for any major re-engineering of the existing culture within PIX - this was particularly pleasing and reassuring for their employees. As an additional accolade, the auditors were also able to bestow the prestigious Bronze Award for IiP, a magnificent achievement at a first assessment”

The Investors in People framework highlights the vital role that employee engagement plays in business success: it is a core component of effective leadership and management, and accesses the exceptional management practices and dedication to employee development.

To achieve the Investors in People standard, an organisation must meet a minimum of 39 requirements. PIX not only met these requirements but also met a further 26 additional requirements beyond the minimum standard to gain their Bronze status.

“We are very proud of our staff, all of whom have the exceptional skills and dedication needed to provide top quality services for PIX customers. The quality of our team has been the most important component in our success” concludes Stewart “I am delighted that auditors felt that standards were high enough to warrant the Bronze Award. Their feedback and encouragement has helped us to focus on how we can improve still further. In a competitive market, such as ours, it is important that our customers know we “go the extra mile”!

 

ANGLIA BEARINGS & PIX PROVIDE SOLUTION TO EXTRACT LANDFILL GAS

An operator of a gas booster running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at a landfill site near Grantham in Linconshire
has switched their choice of transmission belts to the PIX ‘X’tra range, because no other belt they tried coped as well with the extreme demands of the site.

Managed by CLP Envirogas, an independent developer of landfill gas fuelled power generation projects, the Colsterworth Landfill Project provides 2.1 MW of electricity, from landfill gas power.

The problem, as described by Richard Wiles, Field Service Engineer for the Company, was that other belts could not get enough grip. “During full load, the demand on the belts is tremendous, and slippage was a major problem. Since using PIX’s XPA 2500mm belts, we haven’t had a problem”.

PIX’s ‘X’tra cogged raw edge V belts handle much greater torque than the wrapped construction equivalent. With impressive oil resistance and anti-static properties, the X’tra range can work in temperatures ranging from -30c to +90c. Cut edge belt technology is becoming the first choice in many exacting applications, and their superior qualities are most evident in situations involving small pulley diameters, high belt speed, or high ambient temperatures. The cut edge belts offer the best technical and economic solution for rigorous working conditions through their use of high-grade components, coupled to the most advanced production machinery. The gas boosters at the site are powered by 18Kw motors, and the PIX belts have now ran for more than 6000hrs non stop…. and still going strong!!

The gas comes from wells that are connected by a plastic ring main. A large vacuum pump sucks out the methane at a rate determined by the slow decay and prevailing conditions; not too quick, that reserves are depleted, but not so slowly that gas can collect in pockets. It is a fine balancing act, controlled by wellhead valves and operator’s experience.

Concluding Richard Wiles said, “Until our local PIX distributor, Anglia Bearings of Peterborough, came up with the solution, we were looking at a major recurrent problem, for which we thought there wasn’t an easy solution, now thanks to the performance of the new belts, we’re running non-stop without slippages”.

It is little known fact that energy from landfill sites accounts for the biggest proportion of the UK’s renewable energy total. Landfill gas gives us more than four times the energy than we get from the “much-trumpeted” wind turbines, and it is all due to bacterial decay!!

 

 

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