Accura aims for manufacturing gold with partner
Two Midlands businesses have teamed up to provide the oil and gas industry with a unique component at is already attracting major interest from potential clients.
Accura Group, which employs around 185 people at its Hickman Avenue base in Wolverhampton and at Stringes Close in Willenhall, has been working with Peterborough-based Advanced Interactive Materials Science (AIMS) to manufacture Venturi flow meters that measure the flow of oil and gas as it comes out of the ground.
They believe their new flow meter's accuracy and long service life make it unique.
It is made by AIMS using manufacturing techniques such as HIPed powder metallurgy – which involves making the product out of powdered metal that is subjected to heat and pressure through the Hot Isostatic Pressing process – and near-net shaping .
The flow meter is then precision machined by Accura to achieve internal engineering tolerances of just two microns – two thousandths of a millimetre.
Accura has an exclusive licence to market and sell the Venturi valve globally.
Established 30 years ago, the company is a specialist alloy and tooling supplier and manufacturer for the world's most demanding engineering industries, specialising in oil and gas, aerospace and automotive.
Accura's chief executive David Williams said: "This new Venturi flow meter manufacturing technology is outstanding when it comes to performance, longevity, accuracy and integrity.
"With this product's mechanical properties and dimensional accuracy that more than meet the stringent oil and gas subsea standards, there is quite simply nothing like it in the marketplace.
"It is truly exciting and I believe the quality and performance standards achieved by AIMS and Accura will become the benchmark must-have Venturi flow meter globally. We have already received serious interest from various global oil and gas clients in North America, Asia and Europe."
Replacing Venturi flow meters is a difficult and costly process, so high quality manufactured components that reduce maintenance costs offer something the oil and gas industry is keen to exploit.
AIMS is part of Alycidon Capital, based in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Managing director Mark Hodgkins, said: "We are delighted to be teaming up with another Midlands business established in the global oil and gas market that shares our passion for delivering the highest quality products that minimise manufacturing risk and maintenance costs.
"The AIMS team has been working hard to perfect various HIPed and near-net shaped components which are at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology.
"This new product type highlights the quality standard of AIMS' powder containments used in HIPing and near-net shaping and the precision machining capability of Accura. Our partnering allows complex precision structures to be manufactured using a truly uniform and predictable process."
