A. Yes, but why?
Q. It´s for a Nuclear Power Plant.
A. Ohh........OK not a problem!
It´s perhaps not every day we get this type of question, but sure enough our colleagues in Germany did!!!
The customer in question was the French public multinational AREVA, who are the world leaders in the design and construction of nuclear power plants (NPP), and the supply of fuel, maintenance and modernization services.
AREVA (their corporate name was inspired by Arévalo Abbey in Spain), can trace their roots back to 1958 was formed on the 3 September 2001 by the merger of Framatome and Cogema, with Siemens having a 34% stake in its subsidiary AREVA NP.
AREVA´s CEO Anne Lauvergeon is ranked by Forbes as the ninth-most powerful woman in the world, the third-most in Europe and the most powerful in France (Forbes rank the German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the most-powerfull woman in the world).
They have 71,000 employees and a turnover of €11,923M (31/12/2007).
In fact we have been supplying AREVA our KGT range in Germany for many years, but as you know the KGT has now been superseded by our Multi-Mount (MAS).
We deal with tender specifications almost daily, and it can be said that most are fairly easy to and straightforward to deal with. However, anything to do with the nuclear industry is going to be incredibly stringent, and quite rightly so.
The change to Multi-Mount meant we had to go back to the beginning and the drawing board!
AREVA have some real “killer” tests up their sleeve, and as you would expect have to go far beyond the norm (including ISO9000).
Obviously we are pleased that Multi-Mount lived up to not only ours but AREVA´s expectations, and has been awarded their official seal of approval for the next three years.
However, we need not rest on our laurels, as we can expect on-going factory inspections, which judging by the one we have already had, is what you would normally refer to “as leaving no stone unturned”.
Our factory in Spain (Martos) can indeed be very proud of acheiving AREVA´s approval, but are just as interested in solving problems for slightly lesser demanding applications.
For more information on Multi-Mount or any of the Eldon range please visit our eCatalogue, or contact your local Eldon sales office.
http://esales.eldon.com/IDS/default.asp?title=eCatalogue&mainpage=categories%2Easp
http://www.areva.com