Following rigorous assessment over eighteen months, Endress+Hauser Ltd has been declared ‘Fit For Nuclear’ by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). The programme helps UK manufacturing companies to prove their eligibility to bid for work in the civil nuclear supply chain.
Fit For Nuclear (F4N) lets companies measure their operations against the standards required to supply the nuclear industry – in new build, operations and decommissioning – and take the necessary steps to close any gaps. Completing the programme is not easy, with a wide range of processes and procedures needing to be assessed and validated. Chris Gibson, Endress+Hauser’s Marketing Manager for Products and Industries, said, “It’s a lengthy process but we were determined to prove that our company makes a strong partner to those in the nuclear industry.”
Making improvements As well as being a sales, service and solutions centre, Endress+Hauser also has a manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Manchester. This produces high-quality temperature assemblies, primary elements for DP flow and mechanical assemblies associated with process instrumentation, such as bypass chambers and stilling wells.
The F4N assessment has led to improvements in this area of the business, including better workshop layouts and signage, streamlined storage areas and the development of a tool management system. “F4N has helped improve safety, quality and efficiency,” says Chris Gibson. “Our focus is, and will always be, how to make things better for our customers.”
Creating opportunity Despite enjoying many years of success and experience working in the UK nuclear industry, Endress+Hauser considered the F4N programme an opportunity to further enhance its visibility and status within this sector. “We know that our products, support services and automation solutions are a really good fit for the nuclear sector,” confirms Chris Gibson. “In particular we feel that we can support our customers with improving process efficiency and safety: we have had several instruments successfully substantiated for use in UK nuclear safety systems using the EMPHASIS assessment tool.”
F4N also offered Endress+Hauser the chance to benchmark itself against other UK suppliers in the nuclear supply chain, providing confirmation that its business processes are robust and of an excellent standard.
Processes that were audited:
• Strategy & Leadership
• Design & Project Management
• People Excellence
• Process Excellence
• Health & Safety
• Quality Management
For more information please email sales@uk.endress.com or call us on 0161 286 5050