- Doosan Babcock
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Doosan Babcock Industry Energy services Founded 1891 Headquarters Crawley, England
Renfrew, ScotlandKey people CEO Mr. Jean Michele Aubertine Employees 5,414 (2008) Parent Doosan Group Subsidiaries Doosan Babcock Energy Germany
Doosan Babcock Energy PolskaWebsite http://www.doosanbabcock.com Doosan Babcock, is part of Doosan Power Systems Ltd a UK-based subsidiary of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. DPS is a power sector utility boiler OEM and after market services company, offering specialist services and technologies to clients in the nuclear power generation, fossil-fired power generation, oil & gas and petrochemical industries. It is one of four companies in the world with its own proprietary technology in the field of boiler engineering.
Contents
History
Doosan Babcock traces its history back to 1891 when the American Babcock & Wilcox Company formed a separately financed (capitalised at £250,000 initially) British company called Babcock & Wilcox Ltd. The initial board members of the British company included the renowned Scottish structural engineer Sir William Arrol and Andrew Stewart, of the Lanarkshire based steel tubemakers A & J Stewart & Menzies, subsequently Stewarts & Lloyds. (For 10 years prior to the formation of the separate UK company, the US-based Babcock & Wilcox Company had conducted its business in the UK and other parts of Europe from its main overseas office in Hope Street, Glasgow, during which the Company's letterhead bore the legend "Babcock & Wilcox Company, New York & Glasgow".)
The UK Company's sphere of operation was defined as 'the world except for North America and Cuba' which was the reserve of the US Babcock & Wilcox.[2] For a few years B&W boilers were built in the Singer Manufacturing Company's Kilbowie Works at Clydebank near Glasgow, Scotland. Isaac Singer was a significant shareholder in Babcock & Wilcox. In 1895 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd opened a new boilermaking works, based on the 33-acre (130,000 m2) site of the Porterfield Forge on the opposite side of the River Clyde near Renfrew. The Renfrew Works grew to over 200 acres (0.81 km2) by the 1960s. The workload expanded as a result of the two world wars and the supply of defence equipment became another major business area. During the years of World War 2, in contribution to the war effort, much of the Porterfield Road site in Renfrew produced parts for new British tanks, including the gun barrels and various munitions. After the war, numerous stories emerged of German intelligence being discovered, including maps and plans of the site, which when interpreted, suggested that the buildings producing the parts were a possible target for German air attack.
During the 1940s the workforce at Renfrew peaked at approximately 10,000. In the 1960s the company became involved in the development of the UK's nuclear power stations.[2]
In 1975 the core businesses were transferred into a new subsidiary named Babcock & Wilcox (Operations) Ltd.
In 1979 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd was renamed Babcock International Ltd. This company was floated on the stock exchange in 1982, becoming Babcock International PLC. Babcock & Wilcox (Operations) Ltd was renamed Babcock Power Ltd which subsequently became Babcock Energy Ltd. In 1987 Babcock merged with FKI Electricals plc, another engineering company to form FKI Babcock PLC. In February 1989 FKI Babcock PLC demerged to form Babcock International Group PLC and FKI plc.
The Company was at the forefront of steam plant development and expanded to two other manufacturing plants on Clydeside, taking over the Dumbarton Seamless Tube Company in the 1920s and part of the former William Beardmore and Company's Dalmuir Naval Construction Works in 1959. During most of this period the company supplied a wide range of industrial, marine and utility boilers as well as coal pulverising mills, dockside, shipyard and manufacturing bay cranes.
In 1995 a 75% stake in the boiler manufacturing and energy services activities (originally the core businesses of Babcock), by then known as Babcock Energy Ltd, were sold to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding of Japan, and became Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd. In 2006 Mitsui sold the company to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction a subsidiary company of the Doosan Group of South Korea: at that time the UK company was renamed Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd. In 2009 the Czech-based steam turbine maker, Skoda Power, became part of Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd, the latter being renamed Doosan Power Systems Ltd in 2010
The extensive business records of the company from its formation in 1891 to 1989 are lodged at the University of Glasgow Archive Service.[1].
Current operations
The company's main headquarters are in Crawley in England, with its European headquarters being in Renfrew, Scotland. On the Renfrew site there is a modern technology facility which houses a product development function, a technology services business, a production base and a machine shop for large-scale components. The company also has personnel working on the majority of power generation sites across the UK, and a network of offices around the UK to service these sites. Internationally, the company has offices in Atlanta in the United States, Shanghai in China, Chennai in India as well as subsidiary companies in Germany and Poland.
Doosan Babcock has supplied boiler technology in over 30 countries including the US and China as well as Europe, and has a license agreement with Harbin Boiler, the largest boiler maker in China and producer of 26,000 MW of boilers to date. In Scotland, it is Babcock boilers that were installed at Cockenzie Power Station, near Edinburgh and Peterhead Power Station in Aberdeenshire (which has subsequently been converted to fire North Sea gas). Mitsui Babcock bought part of Rolls Royce Nuclear Engineering Services in 2002. The company employs about 60 people at Dounreay and is involved in decommissioning at the DFR reactor and the fuel cycle area.
In 2009 Doosan acquired Skoda Power, the steam turbine OEM based in the city of Plzen in Czech Republic which had been founded by Emil Skoda in the 19th Century. Skoda Power is a subsidiary of Doosan Power Systems Ltd
References
- ^ University of Glasgow
- Babcock International Group plc (formerly Babcock & Wilcox Ltd) summary of business records from formation in 1891 to 1989, lodged at the University of Glasgow Archive service
- Doosan Power Systems (formerly Doosan Babcock Energy) 2009 Annual Brochure
- Doosan Babcock 2008 Annual Brochure
- Doosan Energy Brief
External links
Categories:- Engineering companies of the United Kingdom
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