The company operates three storage terminals, one of which is in Antwerp where the facility’s pipes comprise more than 1,000 manifold valves.
“For Vesta, safety is the priority #1!” says Kevin van Hees, Vesta’s operations manager in Antwerp.
Stocking liquid products for customers requires a complete and complex network of pipes, tanks and valves. Sometimes manually operated valves are a bit harder to open. As a result injuries could occur when Operators would exert force on these valves.
Increasingly, staff were suffering from physical strain related injuries, such as back and shoulder pain.
“We needed to find a solution to make it easier for the operators and address the physical safety issues, but keeping in mind our material safety as well, given our specific ATEX environment.” explains Kevin.
Vesta’s research indicated that a portable valve actuator could be the answer to their problems.
After discussions with an initial potential supplier started taking too long, the company discovered modec via a web search.
According to Kevin, he and his team were very impressed by the technical input offered by modec, who worked closely with Vesta to understand their needs and develop a portable valve actuator that met their specific requirements and was ATEX Zone 1 certified.
“From the very first email, their technico-commercial guy Rémy was really interested in our situation. They came to Belgium to see our operations for themselves and came up with a great solution. We effectively got a custom-made tool.”
Faster, cheaper, safer
“With one tool you can open a whole range of valves, and that represented a significant saving. More importantly, with the portable actuator, our operators can now open the valves easily, more quickly, and without risk of injury,” says Kevin.
Modec’s solution also turned out to be cheaper than Vesta had anticipated, thanks to the actuator’s adaptor that fixes to the tool’s head as opposed to each individual hand-wheel.
As for working with modec, he describes it as a “great” experience. “Their service is first class. It’s not often you get that level of support.”
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