#positivefeedback

#positivefeedback

We hope we deliver as we promise but it’s always good to have it confirmed. Here’s some gratifying feedback we have received in the last few weeks from the UK and abroad.

“I would like to take some moment to talk about the FAT. I was very much impressed how the FAT went so well. It happened primarily because of the well-built and well tested machine. But a lot of credit goes to the Puretech staffs (Ben, Andy, Virul, Jess and the others) who were extremely nice, patient and accommodating to the customer. I have attended many, many FATs in the last 8 years but this ones was truly an excellent FAT with and extremely pleasant environment. A Special thanks to Ben for taking care of us during our stay, the customer loved his positive attitude and dedication towards the FAT activities.”

SAKA International – Puretech’s agent in Bangladesh following a factory acceptance test (FAT)

“Dear Gentlemen,

Good to see you’re attending Achema ! I like the picture of the skid. It´s almost an artwork. Top-class quality”.

Indutrade

Check out the picture here!

“To say big thank you to you all for working on site safely, being helpful and also the quality of your work.”

Comments were made to us during a current Water for Injection project in the UK, where we’re installing a new RO/CEDI generation system and storage & distribution pipework.

Finally, today we received a call from a life sciences company where we have pharmaceutical grade purified water generation system and an ozone distribution system, saying how impressed they have been with our service teams’ level of commitment and helpfulness since the system has been operational.

Thank you to the Puretech team for their hard work in maintaining our high standards.

The latest additions to our team

The latest additions to our team

The latest additions to our team

We understand that maintaining our position a world leader in the design, engineering and installation of pharmaceutical-grade high purity utility systems requires the recruitment and retention of the very best people in the industry so we are proud to have made a number of new additions to the team in the first half of this year, bringing valuable experience and the energy and drive to maintain our momentum and growth of the business.

Ben Johnston, who has a strong background in the mechanical aspects of process engineering and considerable experience in the pharmaceutical sector, joined us as a Project Manager on Puretech water projects following an interview where he says he was impressed by the company’s obvious values – building enduring relationships based on trust, both within the team and with clients, and continually striving to exceed expectation, with everyone moving forward together.

Ben is responsible for the process of taking a concept from mechanical design and build, liaising with client through to FAT, validation and documentation. He is currently working on projects in Bangladesh, Mexico and Singapore, has already distinguished himself with exceptional feedback from the clients and has set himself the challenge of making this his norm.

bjohnston@puretech.uk.com

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn

Andy Green joined us as our Engineering Manager after twenty years of working for himself as commissioning and end automation engineer, supplying and commissioning controls worldwide. Working closely with Contracts Director Simon Deacon, Andy looks after the controls and validation departments, making sure everything happens exactly how and when it should. Essentially, everything that is not built in the workshop is Andy’s responsibility – design, automation, validation, customer contact and when necessary suppliers. Andy was part of the same FAT team as Ben that received exceptional client feedback and he will take justified pride in this as the thing that gives him the greatest reward in his role is seeing the development of the next generation of the team. Great to have his knowledge and experience to draw on.

agreen@puretech.uk.com

Chris Pratt, an experienced MRICS Quantity Surveyor, joined us in February as our Commercial Manager. Working with Robert Smith our Commercial Director, he manages the financial and contractual aspects of projects, from ensuring that we can deliver exactly what is required without compromising on our standards, through discussing variations with the project manager to be clear about where value has been added, to managing applications for invoicing completed work as the project progresses. We are still a growing company and in every role there’s the potential to make a real contribution which Chris is embracing as an opportunity.

cpratt@puretech.uk.com

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

Nik Sheppard brings nearly 30 years’ experience of process engineering to the role of Business Development Manager. Working with James Steptoe, Sales Director, Nik is looking after sales and business development in the UK across all aspects of the business – water and steam systems, gas delivery systems and specialist systems. He sees the potential to reinforce our position in the sectors we have served reliably for nearly 40 years, leveraging the unique breadth of the solutions we offer and our experience both here and in other industries that require our level of expertise, where purity is critical to their success.

Nik instinctively works in a way consistent with our approach of developing the business through building relationships based on trust, simplifying complex projects and providing clients with the peace of mind that we will deliver precisely what they require.

nsheppard@puretech.uk.com

Connect with Nik on LinkedIn

Roger Darlison, Puretech’s Senior Service & Technical Support Engineer, working with a number of service engineers and overseen by Paul Gibbons our Technical Services Manager, Roger provides in-house nationwide support for Puretech clients as well as mentoring for our less experienced engineers, the latter being such an important role to able us to achieve our service department ambitions. Our high-quality purified water generation systems are essential to all our clients, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry where water is an essential element of production and a break in continuity or quality of supply would mean expensive downtime. The majority of clients have service contracts in place, our service engineers have a critical role to perform servicing and attending to any issues on existing and new installations. Speaking about Puretech Roger, who has over 25 years’ experience in the purified water industry, commented, “Despite its size, Puretech is like a family business with a very personal feel. There’s always someone on the end of the phone when you need them and working here is a really positive experience.”  Roger is very dedicated to Puretech and understands that he and his colleagues represent the company every single day. His ambition, which he is already delivering on, is to make a noticeable difference to the service we provide.

rdarlison@puretech.uk.com

Sharif Sendagire joined Puretech as a Water Service Engineer at the beginning of the year, working mainly on sites in the south of the UK, performing a critical role in servicing and attending to any issues on existing and new installations. Working as part of the Technical Services team, Sharif has attended Factory Acceptance Tests on new installations, developing his knowledge and informing the future servicing of the system, which he will be responsible for.

Speaking about his experience so far of working for Puretech Sharif comments, “I find working on a number of different systems and sites stimulating and I enjoy the autonomy and appreciate the trust placed in me. The people I work with are friendly and supportive and knowledgeable and I’m learning a lot from them and observing how they work. It a good team to be part of.”

Sharif is a keen boxer, so quick thinking and quick reactions – very useful!

ssendagire@puretech.uk.com

We are justifiably proud of reputation we have for the quality of our products and service and the flexibility we offer and our ability to adapt to individual requirements to deliver exactly what the customer wants. We welcome Ben, Andy, Chris, Nik and Roger to the team who we are confident will help us to maintain, and hopefully exceed, the standards our customers expect.

Delivering Plessey Semiconductors Ltd complex facility upgrade to an aggressive schedule

Delivering Plessey Semiconductors Ltd complex facility upgrade to an aggressive schedule

CASE STUDY : PLESSEY SEMICONDUCTORS LTD

Delivering Plessey Semiconductors Ltd complex facility upgrade to an aggressive schedule

Project: Facility Upgrade, Plymouth
Client: Plessey Semiconductors Ltd
Principal Contractor: Microgas Systems Limited
Duration: June 2020 – Ongoing

Microgas, acting as principal contractor for Plessey Semiconductors Ltd, managed the M&E design process, procurement and build elements of their complex facility upgrade project. The project consisted of infrastructure upgrades and tool installations, which would lead to uLED prototyping and manufacturing capabilities, delivering to an aggressive schedule to ensure that Plessey’s client, Facebook, could achieve their launch timing.

 

The Client
Plessey Semiconductors Ltd is a leading manufacturer of semi-conductor and optoelectronics, innovating in next-generation Augmented Reality and wearable applications, based on advanced microLED display solutions.

Background
Based on Plessey’s previous experience of working with Microgas and the excellent working relations established, they approached Microgas to lead in delivering the project dedicated to helping Facebook to bring their augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) glasses to market in this and other similar ventures.

Winning the race to market
For Microgas delivering an effective, peerless solution is always paramount. For this contract delivering this within the aggressive schedule was not only crucial for Microgas’ reputation and Plessey’s reputation but also in enabling Facebook to get to market and to maintain their reputation as an innovator in people centred computer technology.

In addition to the crucial timing, the contract was made challenging by the scale of it. The production process required necessitated in excess of 100 new tools and their associated equipment. Infrastructure upgrades were required around the cleanroom envelopes, with a further new addition to one of the processes. Basebuild services, including extracts were modified to take the required expansion of the facility.

Microgas was responsible for the management of the complete construction process, including taking Health & Safety ownership of all construction areas / works under CDM Regs 2015.

The project was managed through a pandemic, with no recorded outbreaks of COVID-19 or positive tests. Despite the challenges of social distancing, site ‘construction’ bubbles and constantly risk assessing the working environment in a way that was very new to everyone the project was successfully delivered.

Design and Build
To ensure that the twenty plus contractors required for the delivery of the project were on side and clearly understood their individual roles in delivering an effective solution to the timetable, Microgas arranged a series of workshops with Plessey, contractors and their tool owners. Limited design information was available on the tools that had been purchased and the workshops were crucial in ensuring that all parties were aligned and that everything required had been captured.

Procurement
Due to the nature of the design and limited information it was not possible to award all parts of the trade contracts initially. Procurement for these elements began once the design process for that system or tool was in a position to start.

Microgas managed the tendering process with the trade contractors, awarding either on fixed price or a schedule of rates basis to maintain the required momentum on the build. Due to the nature of the majority of the componentry and materials required for the specialised installations, there were long-lead items that had to be constantly managed.

Principal Contractor & Installation
Working as principal contractor, Microgas had trade contractors on site for 10 months in order to co-ordinate the installation and deliver the contract on schedule. At times, the daily number of operatives reached 90+, including Microgas’ own installation team.

Each of the scope of works detailed below required design, co-ordination, validation, and certification input by Microgas:

• Basebuild upgrades across all services
• Tool hook-ups
• Gas cabinets and distribution
• Speciality and bulk gases
• Slurry / chemical / solvent dispense systems
• Chemical and gas leak detection systems
• New cleanroom envelope
• Existing cleanroom upgrades
• HVAC modifications
• Mechanical infrastructure modifications
• Power infrastructure modifications
• Systems integration
• De-ionised water system plant upgrade
• Civils works – containment, trenches, partitioning, drainage etc.
• Building management systems
• Storage and logistics
• Fire control / suppression systems
• Instrumentation

During the installation process, Microgas had to work around changes to the infrastructure of the facility being made to accommodate the new line.

Microgas as an installation team, carried out the installation and testing of all high purity gases for the full project but also utilised their diverse range of skills to divide up other types of piping systems to aid with the project running on many of the work fronts in parallel.

Successful Delivery
We are proud to have delivered such a large-scale complex project to schedule, enabling Plessey to deliver, and Facebook to continue to the lead the way in bringing products at the cutting edge of technology, and that were once the stuff of science fiction, to market.