TPi September 2017

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September 2017 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL 15
business & market news
Dedicated supplier
of seamless steel tube
and pipe!
• EN 10294
• EN 10305
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• EN 10297
• EN 10210
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• ASTM A106
• ASTM A179
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0.8A Europa Studios
Victoria Road
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NW10 6ND
MSA wins Queen’s Award for Innovation
MSA Engineering Systems Ltd has won
its second Queen’s Award for Enterprise
Innovation. The award was announced
in April, on the birthday of Her Majesty
The Queen.
The electrofusion technique is used
when water and gas pipes require
joining to other pipes and to other
accessories. An electrofusion fitting has
an embedded heating coil of wire, which
is placed over two thermoplastic pipes
(as a sleeve) and is energised to melt the
plastic of the pipes and corresponding
fitting, fusing them together.
The traditional electrofusion fitting
manufacturing process is complex and
can have quality issues, according
to MSA Engineering Systems. The
company has created a wire-laying
system for installing heating wires into
curved surfaces for the production
of electrofusion saddle fittings,
overcoming the limitations of traditional
manufacturing methods. The same
electrofusion wire-laying principle
can be applied in cylindrical parts to
manufacture electrofusion fittings for
large diameter pipelines, or smaller
specialist electrofusion fittings.
The company states that the benefits
to fitting producers include higher
quality products, lower manufacturing
costs and the ability to make special
parts that previously were not possible.
Downstream pipeline installers can
benefit from reduced installation time,
leading to improved continuity of gas
and water supply for end users. For the
company itself, turnover has increased
by 92 per cent over the past two years
– an increase that is almost entirely
attributable to sales of the innovation.
MSA won its first Queen’s Award for
Innovation in 2006, and has continued
to develop its product range since,
pioneering wire-laying methods for the
production of electrofusion fittings.
For the latest award, two company
representatives attended a winners’
reception held by Her Majesty The
Queen at Buckingham Palace in July.
MSA Engineering Systems Ltd – UK
MSA’s SWL saddle wire laying machine