Sulzer reported a busy and highly successful workshop to demonstrate its automated weld overlay (AWO) services. Industry leaders from the oil and gas sector, such as Aramco, Sabic and Satorp, participated at the event. This workshop demonstrated Sulzer’s ability to offer a comprehensive approach to tower field services.

The fully-booked 2019 AWO demonstration workshop was held at Sulzer’s service centre in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. During the three open days organised by Sulzer, Middle Eastern businesses in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors had the chance to learn how the technology works and the key benefits it offers.

"We had an incredible turnout and were happy to welcome so many businesses interested in knowing more about AWO and what Sulzer can offer them," agreed Ramann Sundaresan, Director of Sales at Sulzer Chemtech Middle East and Andrew Petticrew, Head of Global Sales for Automated Weld Overlay at Sulzer.

The open house event showed businesses in the Middle Eastern oil and gas sector how they could get the most out of their equipment, even after many years of continuous operation. In particular, the workshop aimed to raise awareness on how AWO technology offers a reliable, cost- and time-efficient method to restore the mechanical integrity of damaged vessels, maximizing their service life and productivity.

This cladding method uses fully-automated machines to apply layers of hard-facing and/or corrosive-resistant alloys onto a parent material, i.e. the internal surfaces of processing units. In this way, the weld overlay substrate repairs damaged surfaces and restores initial wall thicknesses. In addition, the new layer can provide additional corrosion protection from harsh chemicals passing through the vessels.

In order to clearly present the opportunities offered by AWO and other key services from Sulzer, the workshop featured live demonstrations of the company’s automated weld overlay capabilities, as well as one-to-one meetings and Q&A sessions. In addition, Sulzer included presentations on the technology, real-world case studies and Sulzer’s comprehensive turnaround service offering.

The feedback that Sulzer received was extremely positive. Petticrew explains: "The attendees were fascinated by the possibilities and benefits offered by our automated weld overlay capabilities. They were particularly interested in our ability to offer a one-stop shop for the manufacture, inspection, maintenance and repair of mass transfer solutions."

"Besides AWO, another service that gained a lot of attention during the event was Sulzer’s hardware stocking support. This helps oil and gas processing facilities to optimize their "pre-shutdown" purchase of materials. While Sulzer stocks the hardware, the customer pays only for what he uses. So, it is a true ‘customer-centric’ service concept," adds Sundaresan.

Impressed by the comprehensive, high-quality service offering, leading businesses in the Middle East that attended the event have asked Sulzer’s specialists to visit their plants and showcase Sulzer’s offering to an in-house audience. In this way, the different parties can move further towards establishing meaningful collaborations. Petticrew and Sundaresan, visibly happy with the outcome, conclude: "We look forward to continuing the discussion with a number of Middle Eastern companies and expanding our support in the region."