December 2006 Strainstall Aquires Soil Dynamics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Strainstall Group Ltd is pleased to announce its acquisition of Soil Dynamics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Soil Dynamics specialises in groundwork engineering and pile testing services, including Bi-Directional Static Load Testing (BDSLT), a specialist technique to provide pile integrity results in challenging soil and ground conditions. This procedure is rapidly becoming established as a preferred method for foundation testing within the fast developing construction industry in the Middle East, and Strainstall’s subsidiary company, Strainstall Middle East LLC, has been successfully promoting the technique in the region for several years. The acquisition of Soil Dynamics will greatly enhance the Group’s growth potential in this market, and will also enable additional technology transfers between the companies to further expand the groundwork services offered by the Group. The company employs 14 staff from its offices in Selangor in Malaysia, from where it will continue to operate as a separate business within the Group, and will be run by the current Managing Director and his management team. Strainstall Group Managing Director, Chris Caws, commented that “the acquisition of Soil Dynamics enhances our activities in the civil and construction world market and provides added impetus to the expansion of our operations in the Middle East”.
 Managing Director Richard Yu at Soil Dynamics offices in Malaysia
October 2006
Acquisition of the Strainstall Group by James Fisher & Sons PLC
Strainstall Group Ltd has recently been bought by the leading UK based marine service comany, James Fisher & Sons plc. Strainstall designs and supplies safety and productivity based monitoring, control, load measurement and structural monitoring systems. The Group operates internationally and services a wide range of industries including the marine, offshore, civil and rail markets.
In the marine sector Strainstall owns Strainstall AMTS, a leading manufacturer of Quick Release Mooring Hooks, which in partnership with Strainstall UK, also provides computerised ship approach, jetty management and mooring systems. In the offshore and other industrial sectors, Strainstall’s equipment covers a wide variety of load and stress monitoring applications. Its subsidiaries Prolec and TRE are market leaders in the provision of excavator safety, productivity and machine control products and computer based rail network signalling simulation and training systems respectively.
Strainstall and Fendercare, a James Fisher subsidiary, have for some time undertaken joint marketing of their ports products, including Strainstall’s full range of berth management systems. The acquisition will enable the enlarged Group to provide advanced turnkey mooring and harbour systems for the fast growing port and terminal industry. Strainstall, like FenderCare, will form part of James Fisher’s specialist technical division, whose key components also include James Fisher Nuclear and Remote Marine Systems. Revenue of this division was up 87% and profits doubled in the last six-month trading period. Organic growth was the main contribution to this improved performance. Tim Harris, Chairman of James Fisher, said:
“Strainstall represents the latest step in the expansion of marine support services which, in the first half of 2006, contributed 67% of profits. It fits the James Fisher model well with its products and services enjoying strong positions in specialist niche markets in the marine, nuclear and offshore sectors and, for the first time, brings the railway and civil markets to the Group.”
Chris Caws, Managing Director of the Strainstall Group said:“James Fisher is a good fit for Strainstall because its refreshing approach to building service businesses is similar to ours. I and my senior management will be staying with and look forward to developing the business.” Strainstall’s head office is in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It employs 145 people mainly in Cowes and the West of England, but also has regional offices in Norway, Belgium and Dubai. The Group will continue to operate as a separate business, and all agency and distributor agreements will remain in place.
July 2006
Strainstall Acquires The Railway Engineering Company
Strainstall Group Ltd is pleased to announce its acquisition of the Railway Engineering Company Ltd (TRE). Founded in 2000 by three leading senior rail control specialists, TRE is a specialist provider of complex, advanced control systems and services to the rail industry. Their capabilities in modelling software, software development and simulation give them a unique ability to enable clients to trial solutions before committing them to the live environment. Network Rail has used TRE's signaller training and assessment system, TRESIM, extensively at signalling centres throughout its network and has recently committed to the use of its Signaller's Assistant system at several signalling centres on the West Coast Main Line. TRE's system development skills have also been widely employed by a number of major UK signalling system suppliers.
The company employs 24 staff from its Westbury headquarters. TRE will continue to operate as a separate business within the group, and all three founder members will be retained full-time in the TRE director roles.
Group Managing Director, Chris Caws, commented "the addition of TRE further strengthens Strainstall's rail offering and compliments our commitment to safety systems. TRE is at the cutting edge of rail safety and we intend to further build upon their reputation as a centre of knowledge and excellence for railway signalling and control systems".
From left to right: Harry Ryland, Director, TRE; Peter Cross, Managing Director, TRE; Chris Caws, Managing Director, Strainstall Group Ltd; Karen Lucas, Finance Director, Strainstall Group Ltd; Mark Tremlett, Director, TRE
Strainstall and TWI Sign CrackFirst™ Agreement
Strainstall is pleased to announce that the CrackFirst™ fatigue sensor system is to be made available to industry following an agreement between Strainstall and The Welding Institute (TWI), project managers of the innovation programme that developed the gauge. Awarded the prestigious Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers Annual Achievement Award for 2005, the CrackFirst™ system indicates the portion of design life that has been consumed on any structure on which it is installed.
Unlike a typical strain gauge which monitors the amount of strain at the point where it is attached to the structure, CrackFirst™ senses the actual amount of fatigue damage that a structure has suffered. It can be used on any welded steel construction that sees cyclic loading, such as ships; off highway vehicles; bridges; cranes and offshore structures. The principle advantage of such a sensor is that it provides valuable information on the rate at which the fatigue design life is being expended, and can therefore be used to set inspection intervals according to usage rather than elapsed time. Such sensors are of most benefit for structures in which fatigue is the primary limit state, especially in situations where inspection and repair are difficult or impossible, or where structural failure would have significant consequences with respect to safety and/or financial loss.
Points Condition Monitoring
Strainstall have recently undertaken two contracts for our load pins and isolators for use in points condition monitoring applications.
The first project was for the Belgian Railways to monitor a critical junction near to Brussels, and follows a lengthy trial of a number of parameters in monitoring points. The original trial investigated drive force, motor current, timing, temperature, and voiding in assessing the feasibility of providing advanced warning of points failure. The drive force using the load pin as the sensor emerged as one of the two top parameters in providing a predictive capability. A new design of pin was required for the points and this was completed in around two weeks. Strainstall's approved isolation amplifier was also selected as the interface between the CM system and the pin, to ensure both mechanical and electrical safety resided with one company.
The second contract was for the China Rail Authority CRCS, where a major programme is underway to fit points condition monitoring to key junctions. Two new types of load pin were required, although one is a minor variation to the UK's HW/M63 design. Again, following a successful technical trial on the optimum parameters to monitor for fault prediction, the pins will be fitted to 10 point-ends at a critical junction near to the CRSC facilities at Beijing, as part of a pilot site to develop a business case for a wider roll-out programme covering multiple key junctions across the network.
News Archive
|
