Shepcote Engineering: 30 Years of Hydraulic Excellence in Offshore, Industrial, and Mining Sectors
Made in Sheffield
Shepcote Engineering is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of hydraulic cylinders, with over 30 years experience providing hydraulic and engineering solutions to a wide variety of sectors, including offshore and shipboard, dockside, industrial, construction and mining.
With over 35,000 sq ft of production floor and 50 tonnes lifting capability, Shepcote Engineering’s in house machining capacity is the largest in the UK dedicated to the manufacture of large hydraulic cylinders, which makes it the manufacturer of the largest hydraulic cylinders in the UK. For example, it can turn up to 25 metres long, deep hole bore up to 1200mm diameter and hone up to 1600mm x 32 metres.
By keeping the manufacturing processes in-house, costs are kept to a minimum, quality control is maximised and deliveries are maintained. Its extensive production capability also means that Shepcote Engineering is able to produce bespoke designs to meet the exact requirements of its clients, regularly supplying cylinders for use in the most arduous and exacting environments. Indeed, ‘custom made, not standard’ is its motto, and quality, value for money, and sound proven design principles are its watchwords.
Alongside its manufacturing capacity, Shepcote also provides the best and most comprehensive cylinder repair service available. The company is positioned as one of the UK’s leading repairer of standard, heavy duty and special purpose hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, sliding piston accumulations and rotary distributors, and its repair facility is the largest in the UK. The high quality repair service is designed to minimise downtime and save money by providing a speedy, reliable, comprehensive and cost effective repair experience.
It is evident that Shepcote Engineering prides itself on providing the highest quality products and services – sustaining this momentum requires a policy of continuous investment in upgrading and modernising its facilities. Therefore Shepcote is constantly investing in the latest CNC manufacturing and CAD design technology and encourages and welcomes new and existing customers to visit the site in Sheffield and witness for themselves the facilities that exist to support their needs and requirements.
The city of Sheffield in England has long been associated with its industrial heritage and the phrase ‘Made in Sheffield’ is famous worldwide for meaning quality in both materials and workmanship. Shepcote Engineering recently became a member of the organisation ‘Made in Sheffield’ declaring its proud Sheffield credentials, and its adherence to those principles of being committed to quality and excellence.
Due to its demands for reliability, the offshore sector has to use dependable suppliers, and manufacturing products for this industry is a large part of Shepcote’s repertoire. The company recently completed a large contract to machine, assemble and test a range of 20″ bore riser joints for offshore specialists SubSea Riser Products.
Ranging in length up to 11 metres, the highly challenging work was made easier by the use of a 24″ hollow spindle lathe. The newly acquired lathe, a significant investment by the company, was bought specifically for this type of work. Shepcote’s ability to machine all types of material up to 25 metres in length is now attracting a great deal of interest particularly from the offshore sector. With a ‘through the chuck’ capacity of 24″ Shepcote believes this to be one of the largest hollow spindle lathes anywhere in the world today.
In truth, Shepcote Engineering is no stranger to working with the biggest names, and the most significant projects in the oil and gas market – for example, it has now completed the first stage of a contract to supply Dutch company Krohne Oil and Gas BV with large bore stainless pipe. This is to be used on the Euroloop project, which will be the world’s largest calibration unit for flow meters used in the oil and gas industry.
The first part of the order, which consists of a total of 570mm bore in five metre lengths to make up the finished assembly of 45 metres, has already been despatched and installed on site at the Euroloop project in Rotterdam. Each piece of material was bored, honed, turned and then drilled before sections were bolted together to form 11 metre lengths.
The bores were then honed once more for even greater accuracy and fit over the assembled length. The finished sections were then shipped to Rotterdam where Shepcote Engineers oversaw the final assembly. Shepcote is now working on the second phase, which is to machine another 45 metres of pipe, this time using 1200mm bore material.
The unique machining capacity available at Shepcote Engineering is becoming increasingly interesting to the offshore sector as demand increases for finished machining of ever longer pieces of exotic materials. As a result of Shepcote’s recent success in machining large riser joints another contract has been won, this time for Cameron UK.
Of course, none of the success that Shepcote is experiencing would be possible without its highly skilled, motivated and conscientious workforce. The company prides itself on its people, which reflect its policy of investing in staff through an established training programme. Shepcote also regards the occupational health, safety and welfare of its employees as being of utmost importance and recognises its responsibilities under relevant legislation. The organisation does not accept any compromise on safety and does not regard any level of accidents or damage to health as inevitable. The ultimate objective is zero accidents. Shepcote Engineering constantly strives to upgrade and modernise, in order to remain at the forefront of hydraulic cylinder manufacture and design.
Shepcote Engineering
Products: Heavy duty hydraulic cylinders, large capacity turning, deep-hole boring and honing