KONTICH, BELGIUM (Feb. 18, 2016) – Saint-Gobain Seals has opened a new large diameter seal production facility at its Kontich, Belgium site in order to further improve quality and reduce lead-times significantly for large diameter, polymer OmniSeal seals. With this new production facility, Saint-Gobain Seals aims to strengthen the service to the Energy sector for applications such as FPSO turret swivels, large engineered valves, wind turbines, compressors and turbines. The dedicated area includes a new compression-molding press, sintering ovens, a large diameter CNC lathe, bespoke flexible forming and welding technology for Meldin 5301 PEEK based components, special transportation racks and a large table for assembly and inspection. The equipment operates in a climatized environment to guarantee optimal dimension consistency throughout the manufacturing process until final shipping.
“The opening of our large diameter production cell is an important step forward in our efforts to offer our customers sealing solutions that deliver a consistent level of performance even in large diameters up to 3,000 mm (118 inch). Our large diameter seals can be delivered with full material qualification, including NORSOK M-710 and certification according to API 6A PSL3 level,” said Christophe Valdenaire, global market manager of Oil & Gas.
The addition of the Kontich production facility follows Saint-Gobain Seals’ strategic plan to offer global support to meet emerging oil and gas market requirements and technology demands. In July 2015, they opened a technical and sales office in Houston, Texas, and in September 2015, the world's first subsea gas compression station became operational in the Åsgard field offshore Norway using Saint-Gobain Seals’ OmniSeal seals, which were certified for the axial control valves portion of the gas compression systems that will go on stream at a water depth of 3,000 meters. The compression station is a major move forward in powering processing technologies on the seafloor and creating new possibilities to extract hydrocarbons in deeper, harsher waters, further from shore.