ORACLE - Component Seals

July 2001“Winning at theManufacturingExcellenceAwards”“How customerservice led toincreased sealreliability andreduced costs atEastman”“Customerservice, thewinning formula -sealing theStyrene Industry”OUR VISIONORACLEIssue 9AESSEAL ® Win TopCustomer Service AwardAES Engineering Ltd., manufacturers of AESSEAL ®mechanical seals, have won the “Award for CustomerFocus” at this years prestigious ManufacturingExcellence Awards - MX2001.The Rotherham, UK based companywas pitted against some of the bignames of British industry in theInstitution of Mechanical EngineersAwards - widely regarded as theindustry’s ‘Oscars’.AES gained it’s award for “customerfocus” following a vigorous judgingprocess which started with a selfassessment audit.This audit was designed byJohn Garside of the WarwickManufacturing Group in associationwith industry specialists fromthe IMechE and the Departmentof Trade and Industry. This gave AESan opportunity to look atits processes and functions andwas extremely valuable forbenchmarking purposes.To give our customerssuch exceptional servicethat they need never consideralternative sources ofsupply.In the next stage a group of four assessors visited AES for an in depthreview of the business before a presentation was made to 6 judgeschaired by Professor Kumar Bhatacharyya CBE......continued page 2C.J. ReaManaging DirectorWINNER OF THENATWESTSUNDAY TIMESCOMPANY OFTOMORROWAWARDFor the latestnews you can visitour website at:www.aesseal.com

“MX2001 CustomerFocus Win”The judges highlighted AES’ investmentin a multi-lingual workforce, itsdevelopment of customer-focussedInformation Technology systems,“lights-out” production systems and thefact that a fifth of its turnover is reinvestedin research and development.The Manufacturing Excellence Awardsbegan in 1982 under the banner of "TheManufacturing Effectiveness Award"and have since grown into an industryrespected and highly recognisedsymbol of the Manufacturing industry'scommitment to excellence.The awards are presented to companieswithin the UK which carry out thebest Manufacturing projects with asignificant improvement to profitability.The Awards recognise meaningfulcontributions to the creation of effectiveproduction outlets which are capable ofsuccess on the world stage.Above: The Award, presented to AES’ SalesDirector Mark Williams by ITN's NicholasOwen and Tony Roche, President of theIMechE.OUR CULTURE• Customer service comes first• We continuously improve• We treat people fairly• We try to communicate moreeffectively• We promote, embrace andmanage change• We create an environment inwhich we are happy at work• We believe it is possible toglobally dominate themechanical seal businessTony Roche, President of the Institution ofMechanical Engineers said "In MX2001we have been able to build on thesuccess of MX2000 with more thandouble the number of entries from allfacets of manufacturing - from chemicalto electronics, food to carpets andtraditional heavy engineering toluxury cars.”“This year's entrants, from a wide rangeof commercial backgrounds, show thatthe UK is a world leader in engineering.The use of innovation, informationtechnology, lean manufacturing,customer care and human resourceshave been shown tonight byall participants. MX2001 againdemonstrates that the UK is theengineering benchmark for all countriesto follow."AES was pitted against such giantsas Jaguar Cars Ltd, BOC Edwards,Cummins Power, The Corus Group, BAeSystems and Air Products Ltd.Chris Rea, Managing Director andfounder of AES said on receiving theaward “I am delighted. It is an affirmationof the AES vision to give our customerssuch exceptional service that they neednever consider alternative sourcesof supply.”Convertor II

AES are the only company to enter theglobal mechanical seal market in thelast two decades. When entering amarket dominated by a few internationalplayers it is essential to have somethingcompletely different to offer, to contendwith the sheer scale of the competition.From the beginning AES identifiedcustomer service as the one possiblesignificant advantage.Today AES continues to thrive andthe “customer service comes first”philosophy remains at the forefront of itsbusiness culture.About the AwardsThe Manufacturing Excellence Awardshave gained extensive recognition overthe past 21 years and are nowacknowledged as the premier Awardsfor Manufacturing companies.Supported by a consortium led by theInstitution of Mechanical Engineersand including the DTI, WarwickManufacturing Group, ProfessionalEngineering, Sandvik Coromant andMTTA, the Awards recognise realachievements in Manufacturing and thepromotion of best practice.Institution of Mechanical EngineersThe ImechE was founded in 1847, with the railway pioneer GeorgeStephenson as its first President. The aim of the original group of 63members remains their driving force to this day, as ImechE's 80,000current members in 149 countries are working at the leading edge oftechnological progress.Department of Trade and IndustryThe Department of Trade and Industry is the UK Governmentdepartment with the overall aim "to increase competitiveness andscientific excellence in order to generate higher levels of sustainablegrowth and productivity in a modern economy".Warwick Manufacturing GroupThe WMG are a group of professionals established as an integral partof the University of Warwick but with independence of operation.Their director, Professor S. K. Bhattacharyya has, over a period of 20years, created an international reputation for WMG by achievingacademic excellence with business relevance.Professional Engineering MagazineProfessional Engineering Publishing are committed to the publicationof information written by the world's leading engineers that deals withvital and topical engineering issues.Sandvick CoromantSandvik is a high-technology, engineering group with advancedproducts and a world-leading position within selected areas. Worldwidebusiness activities are conducted through representation in 130countries. The Group has 35,000 employees and annual sales ofapproximately £3 billion ($4.2 billion).SCUSI

“Customer Service Leadsto Reduced Costs”How the AESSEAL ® Customer Service Philosophy Led toIncreased Seal Life & Reduced Costs at one of the WorldsLargest Chemical Plants.Choosing a single supplier hassaved Eastman Chemical Company,with headquarters in Kingsport,Tennessee, 25 percent on its annualexpenditure for mechanical seals atits Tennessee Operations site.These impressive results followEastman's selection of AES EngineeringLtd. (AESSEAL ® ) as its mechanical sealsprovider.With the current trend to consolidatesuppliers intensifying, many end-usersare extending their consolidationinitiatives to engineered products such asmechanical seals. Eastman's TennesseeOperations formed a team to evaluateeach pre-qualified mechanical sealmanufacturer.They had redundancy in their inventoryand stocked a number of seals that wereprobably interchangeable with otherbrands. All the seals - over 2,000 lines -had a Global Material Number (GMN). Theteam benchmarked the historicalexpenditure for mechanical seals anddeveloped a strategy to select a singlesupplier, one that could locate on-site andbecome the "channel supplier" forall the company's mechanical sealrequirements.Single Supplier"The selected supplier's job would be toidentify the numerous duplicate designsand to provide a 'seal of choice'", saidteam member Phil Hensley. These werethe seal designs that would be suitablefor 80 percent of Eastman's applications.Included in the team's strategy forselecting a supplier were performancemeasurements such as inventorystocking levels, stock outs, on-timeAbove: Tennessee Operations Chemical Plant.delivery performance, number of sealsissued for use, percentage of used sealsreturned for repair and the average meantime-between-failurefor failed seals(those seals with a previous failure historysince the programs inception).AES Engineering Ltd. passed all the teststo win selection as Eastman's "ChannelSupplier". Now the UK company has notonly met the Tennessee Operations'supply demands but has also designedspecial seals to meet some of the sitesmore unusual technical needs."We worked diligently to understand thetrue needs of Eastman and formed a planto exceed their expectations," said RichGreatti, Vice President of Sales for AES."We have a very dynamic company andare dedicated to meeting - and exceeding- customer service expectations."The evaluation from the Eastman teamwas very thorough. It included site visitsto AES’ Knoxville, Tennessee operationas well as its Global Technology Centre inRotherham, England. They investigatedthe company's viability and confirmedAES performance with references fromother major corporations currently usingtheir products.CURC

Upon being selected, AES immediatelyformed a 20-strong project team,drawing from purchasing, design,application engineering and sales, torespond rapidly to the call.AES Moves On SiteWithin the first 30 days, AES hadprovided consignment inventory, built anon-site office, permanently relocatedseveral employees and installed a CADstation.By the end of 90 days, AES had designeda number of special seals, connected theCAD station to its Knoxville, Tennesseeand UK operations using a high speedtelecoms link and frame relay, and hadhired employees for the other sites.Eastman buyer Janey Osbornecomplimented the AES team, "It was avery smooth implementation because theeffort was centrally controlled andprofessionally managed."Roddis added, "The primary strategy forour contracts is to positively measure theperformance of mechanical seals. As partof our corporate contract managementpackage, AES has developed aninnovative suite of databases thatessentially provides the applicationsupport data on a central platform."The Environmental Technology SoftwareSuite of databases consists of sealselections by chemical application,equipment retrofit databases, and heatgeneration calculations, all integratedwith a comprehensive site surveyprogram that measures the Mean-Time-Between-Failure (MTBF) for eachapplication. This data is analysed on amonthly basis and fed into the summaryperformance measures, which arereviewed by a seal contract team.Within a few months, AES rolled outthe program to Eastman's ArkansasOperations and Carolina Operations sites,and AES was also selected to serviceEastman facilities in Europe. Multicurrencypricing was provided for eachcountry that was uniform for each location.AES provided dedicated staff as requiredand the permanent team in Kingsport,Tennessee had grown to eight.A single cartridge welded metal bellowsseal and a single cartridge pushermechanical seal were selected as the'Seals of Choice'. The contract also gaveAES a number of opportunities to designspecial seals. Solutions for lobe pumps,mixers, reactors and even blowers havebeen provided."We find ways to convert the existingOEM seals into special cartridge sealsthat incorporate standard face sets fromour modular range of products,"explained AES’ Director of EngineeringAlan Roddis.Special seals have been delivered in amatter of days, and even complexreactor seals constructed from titaniumhave been designed and manufactured inunder three weeks as part of AES’commitment to Eastman.Above: The Tennessee Operations at night.Jim Cornelison of Eastman's ContractServices commented, "Not only have webenefited from a substantial purchasecost saving, we are also improving ourMTBF. The increases are occurring as wework in concert with AES. "AwardIn June last year (2000), Eastmanconfirmed AES’ success with one of itshighest accolades - the Innovation Awardunder the Eastman Supplier ExcellenceProgram (ESEP).CDSA

Customer Service, theWinning FormulaSealing the Styrene IndustryLeading British seal designers AES wentback to basics and incorporated oldtechnology with new to solve a major sealingproblem in polystyrene manufacturing.Now, thanks to their research anddevelopment with one of their Americanclients, the polystyrene industry worldwidehas an affordable solution to what has beenan almost unsolvable problem.AES began the initial design phases toengineer a range of seals specifically for theindustry in November 2000, in particularseals used on styrene monomerapplications.Their test plant was a chemical facility inAlabama, USA where - as the sole supplier ofmechanical seals - their focus was oneliminating the failure of seal O-rings ontraditional cartridge seals.Styrene destroys rubber compound O-rings,no matter what the material, through aprocess called outgasing. Outgasing occurswhen styrene - a raw product derived as a byproductof processing natural gas (either in aliquid or vapour state) penetrates the pores ofrubber compound O-rings used in mechanicalseals. After saturation it begins the chemicaltransformation to a polymer polystyrene.This makes the O-ring swell until, eventually,the O-rings either blow out or break - a bitlike a heated kernel of popcorn popping.During design phases the AES team - JeffJarrett, Alan Roddis, Phil Wall and KeithHodson - worked with the chemical plant’spersonnel to engineer seals specific to theirindustry. Their basic mandate was toeliminate the seal O-rings.Jeff explained "Using design criteria based onseveral years in sealing styrene andaccumulated experience within theorganisation, we set out to design and build anew seal without any O-rings except for asingle O-ring on the pump shaft.""The timing of the project was perfect"continued Jeff. "AES had just released theirnew line of bellows seals which became theteam's focus to solve the styrene problem.We have got several of the new styrenespecific seals running at a chemical plant inAlabama, USA."These are single cartridge bellows sealswhich use a Teflon wedge to replace atraditional Graphite packing (styrenedissolves graphite) under the rotary. Thestationary is a special Silicon Carbide thathas a Teflon gasket on the perimeter of thelapped side of the face as well as one on therear side of the face, between the face and agland shoulder. The gasket on the lappedside is PTFE and seals against the stuffingbox face. Thus the design is a cartridge sealthat, in essence, is a component seal.Two seals were initially installed and theseleaked very slightly so AES analysed theproblems and went back to the drawingboard, changing a gasket design in theprocess.The new seals currently in service haveexperienced no problems. They have gonesix months now without a failure on thechemical plant’s L2 Stripper pumps, some oftheir most troublesome. These pumps havehistorically recorded extremely high rates ofseal failure, not because of pump or systemproblems but because of repetitivemechanical seal failures. Average seal lifeprior to installing the new AES designspecific for styrene was a couple of months.Jeff Jarrett concluded "Styrene plantsworldwide, whose maintenance teams haveexperienced repetitive seal failure problemsand have tried many brands and types ofcartridge seals in a bid to solve the problem,now have a very reliable and affordable metalbellows cartridge seal that incorporatesPTFE wedge/gasket technology thataddresses outgasing."Above: The AESSEAL ® Single BellowsMechanical Seal developed specifically forthe Styrene Industry.RDS

More Prestigious AwardsNatWest Sunday Times "Company of Tomorrow" AwardLast year AES Engineering won a top UKbusiness award for its rapid growth and"outstanding potential".AES was one of eleven finalists in theNatWest Sunday Times Business EnterpriseAwards, hosted by TV presenter AlistairStewart at the Savoy Hotel in London.AES beat some of the UK's best knownbusiness names to win the coveted"Company of Tomorrow" award. The retailgiant, Dixons Group PLC was selected as"Company of the Year".AES Managing Director Chris Rea said hewas delighted to have been in the companyof the other ten finalists - a virtual "Who'sWho" of the most glittering names inUK business."We are thrilled to have been selected as“Company of Tomorrow”. Engineering is nota 'fashionable' sector so it must have takena lot of guts for the judges to pick us. Thisis a testament to the quality of our staff,and the efforts we have made to build aworld class company, producing worldclassproducts," he said.The NatWest Sunday Timescompetition is open to anyUK company with a turnoverof at least £1m ($1.5m).Previous winners includeOrange and J.Sainsbury.The "Company of Tomorrow"award was introduced for thefirst time last year, when it waswon by the computer chipmanufacturer, ARM. The award isgiven to companies enjoying rapidgrowth who clearly demonstrateoutstanding potential tobecome a future "Companyof the Year".AES Wins its Fourth Queens AwardAES has won its fourth Queen's Award forEnterprise in April 2000. The newInternational Trade Award coincides withthree major expansion deals concluded rightacross Europe.M.D. Chris Rea said he was "honoured anddelighted" by the award which wasin recognition of thecompany's continuedrapid expansion intooverseas markets.Over the past year exportsales have risen bya record 59% reinforcingAES' position as atruly global operator.While remaining firmlyheadquartered in the UK,AES now has branches inMalaysia, South Africa, the United Statesand Europe.Chris Rea said that even when AES had onlya handful of employees, it had its sightsfirmly set on becoming a major exportbusiness. "We had just started production ofour own mechanical seals in response tolosing our distributorship of an Americanmadeproduct. At that time we were fightingfor survival. It was completely ridiculous tothink about exporting, but we beganplanning for the day we would start tacklingthe American market." he said. In fact AESset up its US operation in 1990, five yearsahead of target.AES is convinced thatthinking big, and workingharder and smarter than theinternational opposition, isthe only way for the UK'straditional industrial base tothrive in the new millennium.AES' experience of theAbove: Chris Rea receiving the award flexibility and dedication of itsfrom The Earl of Scarborough. workforce makes it confidentthat the future will bringfurther expansion. Already, the latestmanufacturing technology is used to keepcosts down, and AES recently introduced acompletely automated third working shift."The staff are fully behind this initiative. Theyhave seen first-hand that history is not kind tocompanies that stand still." said Chris Rea.SMSS

customer servicesealed withengineeredexcellenceThe A.E.S. Engineering Ltd. Group of CompaniesA.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Rotherham, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1709 369966A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Derby, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1332 366738A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Peterborough, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1733 230787A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Scotland, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1698 849808A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Middlesbrough, U.K. Telephone +44 (0) 1642 245744AESSEAL SE Plc, Essex, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1708 256600AESSEAL SE Plc, Pontypridd, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 1443 844330AESSEAL (MCK) Ltd., Belfast, U.K. Telephone: +44 (0) 28 9060 1633AESSEAL (MCK) Ltd., Co. Cork, Ireland. Telephone: +353 (0) 214 633477A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Telephone: +1 865 531 0192A.E.S. Engineering Ltd., Seneca Falls, New York, USA. Telephone: +1 315 568 4706AESSEAL Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. Telephone: +1 423 224 7573AESSEAL Deutschland AG. Telephone: +49 (0) 60 74 881293AESSEAL Italia SRL. Telephone: +39 (0) 33 197 0556AESSEAL Pty Ltd., Gauteng, South Africa. Telephone: +27 (0) 11 466 6500AESSEAL Pty Ltd., Confluid Branch, Amanzimtoti, South Africa. Telephone: +27 (0) 31 903 5438AESSEAL Malaysia SDN. BHD. Telephone: +603 8062 1233AESSEAL Nederland. Telephone: +31 (0) 76 564 9292AES Engineering Ltd. (Suc. en España) Telephone: +34 (0) 956 6761 02AESSEAL Ibérica S.L. Telephone: +34 (0) 977 55 43 30AESSEAL Danmark, Greve, Denmark Telephone: +45 56 64 14 00AESSEAL France S.A.R.L. Telephone: +33 (0) 3 2017 2850AESSEAL Turkiye, Istanbul, Turkey Telephone: +90 (0) 212 237 40 47AESSEAL China Ltd. Telephone: +86 574 87701888AESSEAL Canada Inc. Telephone: +1 807 624 2727AESSEAL ® is a Registered Trademark of A.E.S. Engineering Ltd. © Copyright 2001 A.E.S. Engineering Ltd. Ref: L-UK/US-ORACLE-09 AES/DOC/IN 4601 07/01web: http://www.aesseal.comemail: seals@aesseal.com