18 November 2011: Handover of new warehouse and laboratory facilities

EffecTech commissioned the building of a new warehouse and laboratory facility adjacent to their head office in Uttoxeter. The new facilities were handed over from the contractor on 18 November 2011. The warehouse will house more stock, improving supply times and the laboratory will increase the capacity and range of services offered.

10 October 2011: EffecTech has been assessed by UKAS and is now an accredited provider of proficiency testing schemes under the requirements of ISO 17043

EffecTech is the only UK company which provides an accredited proficiency testing scheme for gases and gas mixtures.

26 August 2011: Proficiency Testing Scheme 11Q2 Results

Results for the second round of the Global Gas and LNG Proficiency Testing scheme have been reported today. 18 laboratories from around the World participated in this second round of the scheme.

2 June 2011: First Biogas Performance evaluation

The first EffecTech Performance evaluation of a Biogas gas chromatograph was conducted in Europe today. The Encal 3000 chromatograph underwent the ISO 10723 performance evaluation in the Elster Instromet factory in Silvolde, NL to assess its performance for the measurement of biogas. Biogas differs from natural gas in the components and composition ranges and challenges the instrument manufacturers with the inclusion of oxygen which many natural gas instruments cannot measure routinely.

Biogas generation and measurement continues to grow in popularity as it will form an important contribution to the EU’s renewable energy target of 20% renewable energy by 2020.

10 May 2011: Energy measurements at the GATE terminal, NL

EffecTech has evaluated all the metering equipment and network entry instrumentation at the new GATE (Gas Access To Europe) terminal in Rotterdam this week. The GATE terminal is the first LNG terminal in the Netherlands and will be an important source of energy for the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.

28 February 2011: EffecTech approved as an Investor in People organisation

EffecTech have underpinned their commitment to their staff by becoming an approved investor in people organisation. Everyone agrees that people are an organisation’s greatest asset, and we all know that for an organisation to succeed everyone has to perform well. To achieve this, people need the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work efficiently. They also need to be given clear direction and be supported by inspirational and effective management practices. IIP helps organisations improve productivity, meet goals and adapt to change.

3 February 2011: Another first for EffecTech - ISO 17025 accreditation granted for on-site temperature and pressure calibration

UKAS have granted EffecTech ISO 17025 accreditation for on-site calibration of temperature, pressure and differential pressure transmitters. The transmitters are used to measure the temperature and pressure of natural gas in gas metering streams, and the differential pressure developed across an orifice plate under flowing conditions. These measurements are used to calculate the volume of gas flowing through the metering stream. These calibrations are carried out as part of a wider validation process of metering streams that measure gas flow for payment purposes, often referred to as ‘fiscal metering’. This accreditation for the calibration of the secondary elements for flow complements EffecTech’s existing ISO 17025 calibration scope for gas quality measurements. The ISO 17025 accreditation status gives customers unrivalled confidence in their fiscal metering. 

22 November 2010: EffecTech awarded 5 year contract for Global Gas and LNG Proficiency Testing Scheme.

EffecTech has entered into a 5 year partnership with Shell Global Solutions to provide and co-ordinate a global gas Proficiency Testing (PT) scheme according to ISO 17043 standards. EffecTech will prepare and certify reference gases at their UK laboratory and send them “blind” to Shell laboratories located at their LNG terminals throughout the world. Each laboratory analyses these gases and reports back their results to EffecTech as scheme coordinators. Once all the results have been received, EffecTech reveals the actual gas compositions to the participants. The closeness of each laboratory’s results to the actual composition forms the basis of a quantitative assessment of their capability and performance. This will identify which are the better performing laboratories and those who may need help and guidance to improve. Anonymised results are reported to all participants so they can compare their performance against other laboratories in the scheme. The overall goal is to monitor and improve the quality of the data reported by each participating laboratory, providing Shell with an accredited global level of quality assurance.

Participants in this scheme include all of Shell LNG production sites and a number of other LNG contract laboratories around the World - For more information about participating in the scheme.

Following in the footsteps of EffecTech UK last year, EffecTech India have undergone successful stage I & II audits with the BSI culminating at the Tarapur facility yesterday (23 September 2010). EGPL was recommended for registration to ISO 9001 with ZERO improvement actions.

Representatives from Petrochina visited the EffecTech head office in the UK today. The visitors included the President of Petrochina, Dr Huang Liming and several of his management team. The Petrochina visitors were accompanied by Dr Gregor Friedrichs a consultant from the Dusseldorf based company Competence Engineering. The visit was organised to allow the Chinese visitors to understand how the UK’s natural gas transmission and distribution system operates, focusing particularly on the key metering issues across the entire network. Presentations from key experts in the field were given by Dr Dave Lander, formerly National Grid Gas and Chris Cowper along with other members of the EffecTech team.

This premier sector award requires the nominees to have demonstrated outstanding success during the last financial year and includes exceptional growth, development of services and products. The award will go to the business that has not only increased its own potential but also has had a positive impact on the economy of the region as a whole. The awards ceremony will take place at the Moat House Hotel in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday 23 March. 

Following a successful audit by BSI, EffecTech is now an ISO 9000 registered company, the official registration date was 23 November 2009.

EffecTech have secured their first calibration gas order from Egypt this week. This order for 10 calibration gases was gained through EffecTech being recommended by a UK subsidiary of the Egyptian company

A new record has been set by the calibration laboratory in the UK. An urgent order for ten ISO 17025 calibration gases for a client in Vietnam has been manufactured, calibrated, labelled and packed in 8 working days.  

EffecTech Ltd should, as they say, be cooking on gas having won the Business Initiative-backed Small Business of the Year Award.

The Uttoxeter company has a crucial role in deciding how much is paid for natural gas by large-scale users, dealers, and – ultimately – homes and factories using it or electricity from gas-fired power stations. Effectech’s business development director Paul Holland said: "It is a very prestigious award and we are really glad to win."

This will provide internationally traceable measurements of natural gas quality on the HBJ pipeline in India. The contract was awarded today by GAIL India Ltd following a tendering process which started in October 2008.

The EffecTech gases will be used to calibrate a large number of process gas and laboratory instruments providing GAIL India Ltd with state-of-the-art accuracy for their natural gas quality measurements.