Teesside University delivers project to help future-proof Yorkshire seaside town engineers

A Tees Valley engineering company could soon save money thanks to a joint research project with Teesside University.

Saltburn-based Peel Jones Copper Products provides high conductivity copper castings to the global iron and steel industry.

It is set to grow capacity by 15 per cent per year with the roll-out of a new manufacturing process developed in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Teesside University.

The company - whose specialism is developing water cooled copper castings for the likes of blast furnaces, arc furnaces, smelters and cupolas - sought the university’s help through a two-year KTP project.

A KTP is an Innovate UK-funded programme, helping SMEs improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, tech and skills.

Under the guidance of Dr David Hughes, a senior lecturer in Teesside University’s School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, the project saw the university optimise the performance of blast furnaces through 3D design and manufacture.

Andrew Young, Peel Jones Copper Products’ managing director, said: “We are now capable of producing tuyeres - a tube, nozzle or pipe through which air is blown into a furnace and our most complex product - alongside other products in 3D within a period of just one or two weekss.

“We have a knowledge repository for technical information and a file management system set up for 3D models, and essentially the whole company culture has moved towards technical work involving simulation and advanced quality planning.

“Overall, the new processes that have been introduced here have resulted in a 100 per cent improvement in mould assembly, in one case, and cost-savings on other product lines so far addressed, which we estimate will be in the region of £660k worth of capacity per annum going forward.”

From its North East base, Peel Jones Copper Products serves many global plant operators.