Weir’s Engineering Excellence Recognised by Rolls Royce

From left to right: Edmond Nowicki, Weir Power & Industrial France, John Sulley, Rolls-Royce, Philippe Duribreu general manager, Weir Power & Industrial France and Phil Thompson, design engineer Rolls-Royce.

Weir Power & Industrial, part of The Weir Group plc, is pleased to announce that Edmond Nowicki, a senior engineer at the company’s valve facility in Lille, Northern France, has been awarded the prestigious ‘Engineering Excellence through Innovation’ prize from Rolls-Royce as part of a team with Rolls-Royce engineers.

The award, which is widely accepted as recognition of ingenuity and excellence, is presented for projects that demonstrate a high degree of innovation. On this occasion it was awarded for the research and development work the team completed on a new design of Steam Generator Relief Valve (SGRV) - a critical component of plant safety. The new valve design pushes out the boundaries of a soft-seated design in a high temperature application and as a consequence has reduced manufacturing costs and made the valve even more tolerant to potential debris damage.

Monsieur Nowicki worked on the project for over two years with engineers from both the Rolls Royce Components division based in Derby and with several teams across the Weir Group. Throughout the process, the team developed and tested prototypes until a robust set of parameters and tolerances were achieved, ensuring units would always meet requirements.

John Sulley, chief design engineer components at Rolls Royce said, “We are extremely pleased with the work the entire team conducted on the valve design and particularly the work Edmond completed to achieve the required results. We have been extremely pleased with the support we have received from Weir Power & Industrial France on this very demanding and most significant project – an excellent example of team work between Rolls-Royce and Weir.”

Weir Power & Industrial, Tel: 0141 308 2800
Website: www.weirpowerandindustrial.com

Published: 10th December 2010