Brief History

Established in 1968, Pipe Supports Limited was born out of her parent company, British Industrial Engineering to provide a comprehensive range of pipe supporting equipment to the power generation and petro-chemical industries. After 25 years in private ownership the business was purchased by Hill & Smith Holdings Plc in 1993 and the Pipe Supports Group was created.

Providing a global solution for piping engineers, the Pipe Supports Group is one of the largest businesses in this sector and has manufacturing facilities in the UK, Thailand, India and the USA.

Key milestones in the Group’s history are –
•         2013 – Bergen Pipe Supports (India) Private Limited (BPSI) awarded ISO 9001:2008
•         2012 – New machine-shop (1500 sqm) added to Thai facilities  
•         2012 – New manufacturing facility opened in India
•         2011 – PSL awarded ASME NS certificate, approved to supply pipe supports meeting the requirements of ASME Division III subsection NF
•         2011 – Acquisition of US business - The Paterson Group Inc.
•         2010 – Pipe Supports India Pvt Ltd dissolved – Wholly owned subsidiary, Bergen Pipe Supports (India) Pvt Ltd established (BPSI)
•         2010 – Engineers recruited to both Korean & Japanese sales offices
•         2009 – Sales office in France opened – Pipe Supports France established (PSF)
•         2009 – Manufacturing facility in China opened – Bergen Pipe Supports (Jiangsu) Ltd established (BPSC) 
•         2008 – PSL relocated to new site.
•         2007 – Sales office opened in USA – Pipe Supports USA established (PSU)
•         2007 – Sales office opened in Korea – Pipe Supports Korea established (PSK)
•         2007 – Sales office opened in Taiwan – Pipe Supports Taiwan established (PST)
•         2007 – 2000sqm extension added to cryogenic support factory (PSA2)
•         2007 – 1500sqm extension built at hanger factory (PSA1)
•         2005 – Opened 5000sqm cryogenic support factory (PSA2) near Bangkok, Thailand
•         2004 – Opened purpose built 3000sqm spring support factory (PSA1) near Bangkok, Thailand
•         2002 – Engineering office opened in Chennai, India – Pipe Supports Group India Ltd established (PSGI)
•         2000 – Joint Venture established near Chennai, India – Pipe Supports India Pvt Ltd established (PSI) 
•         2000 – Sales office opened in Tokyo – Pipe Supports Japan established (PSJ)
•         1999 – Representative office opened in Singapore – Pipe Supports Singapore established (PSS)
•         1994 - First overseas manufacturing facility opened in Thailand – Pipe Supports Asia established (PSA)
•         1993 - Acquired by Hill & Smith Holdings Plc.
•         1968 - Pipe Supports Limited (PSL), established by Gordon Jones.

Quality

Quality Assurance and Control

All of the Pipe Supports Group manufacturing facilities operate the same highly-evolved quality assurance and control systems based upon the ISO9001 standard. Developed by our facility in the UK, we implement the same QA Manual and procedures in each of our manufacturing plants regardless of local requirements.

Where there are specific local requirements these are implemented alongside our established systems.

All our of manufacturing facilities are either accredited to ISO9001 or are in the process of establishing systems and procedures that will be audited to ISO9001 in the very near future.

 
In addition, our US factory is accredited to ASME III, Division 1, Sub-section NF and has been awarded the ASME NS certificate for the supply of pipe supports to nuclear installations. The US facility located in Donora, Bergen Power Pipe Supports has an established track-record of supplying to the US nuclear power programme.
The Construction Products Regulation (No. 305/2011 – CPR), which comes in to force from July 2013, relates to materials used in the construction of buildings, fabricated in accordance with EN1090 and defined by European Commission Mandate M/120. We confirm that our pipe support products are manufactured in accordance with the harmonised European standard EN13480 and, as such, do not fall under the requirements of the CPR. Plate & flat materials that are welded to the pressure part as well as structural steel sections used for supplementary steel structures will, after July 2013, be supplied with certification showing the CE mark.

Our present programme of approvals & activity is —

UK Plant

•    accredited to ISO 9001:2008
•    FPAL-registered supplier (No. 10040229)
•    Achilles-registered supplier (No. UVDB 81199)
 
Thailand Plants

•    Both Thai factories accredited to ISO 9001:2008

US Plant

•    accredited with ASME NS & NPT certificates
•    accredited with 10CFR50 Appendix B / ANSI N45.2
•    in the process of implementing systems to ISO 9001:2008

Site Services

Regular Surveillance Protects your Plant and your Personnel

Carefully specified, designed and built to perform a critical role in the successful working of plants, the supports accommodate and control the considerable movement of pipes which can be experienced under different operating conditions. If the supports don’t do their job, then the movement may become unrestrained, or locked, and considerable damage can occur to people, pipework, capital equipment and the efficient working of the plant.

The demands of Health & Safety legislation and the issue of personal liability for injuries caused through preventable means both place preventative maintenance at the top of the list for evidence of good management systems and practice. Visits to sites have found examples of supports in such terrible disrepair that they cannot possibly perform the task for which they were designed. Examples are shown in the attached leaflet. While these are at the extreme end of the spectrum, many less obvious, but still important, issues can be spotted by the trained eye, ensuring repair and resolution before the problems become critical.