An engineering challenge can start almost anywhere in the world. Increasingly, the search for the answer leads to Brierley Hill. Banelec has spent more than two decades designing electrical control and automation systems for industry. Its projects now span sectors, continents and some highly specialised applications. The common theme is simple. A customer has an engineering problem. Banelec works out how to solve it.
From cranes destined for Australia to offshore equipment in Norway, British steelmaking and aerospace manufacturing, the Black Country business has built a reputation around bespoke control engineering. Jennie Banner, Operations Director at Banelec, says the variety is part of what makes the company tick.
“Some of the enquiries that arrive with us are fascinating,” she said. “They can come from different industries and different parts of the world, but usually the customer is looking for someone who can understand the application and engineer the right solution.”
One of the clearest examples came through Banelec’s long-standing work with J Barnsley Cranes. The relationship has seen Banelec design and manufacture hazardous-area control systems for cranes operating around the world. That experience has helped the company develop specialist knowledge in crane controls. It has also created opportunities to engineer systems for demanding operating environments.
Projects with Australian crane manufacturer Eilbeck Cranes extended that international reach. For one application, Banelec was asked to deliver a control system within strict physical dimensions. The company engineered a bespoke solution around the available space and project requirements. Australia may be thousands of miles from the West Midlands. The engineering principles remain the same.
“You have to understand what the equipment needs to do, where it will operate and how the customer needs to use it,” said Banner. “That could be a factory in Britain, a crane overseas or equipment heading offshore. Our engineers start with the application and build the control solution around it.”
Few projects demonstrate that approach better than Banelec’s work with Norwegian engineering group Aibel. Banelec was tasked with designing a specialist crane control system for the Johan Sverdrup offshore platform. The cranes were destined for the platform’s blowout preventer deck. Banelec developed a double-redundancy system incorporating an Emergency Operating System to provide an additional method of crane operation.
It was a highly specialised piece of control engineering developed in the Black Country for one of the world’s major offshore energy projects. For Banner, projects of this type demonstrate how specialist engineering expertise can travel.
“We are very proud that systems designed and built by our team in Brierley Hill can end up operating on major projects around the world,” she said. “It shows what specialist UK engineering businesses can offer internationally.”
Banelec’s global story is also one of variety. The company has designed automation for aerospace manufacturing. It has supported automotive production. It has delivered conveyor installations for parcel distribution. Its engineers have worked on biomass systems, distilleries, cranes, steelmaking and offshore energy. In aerospace, Banelec created a robotic machining cell for an ejection seat manufacturer.
It was the customer’s first robot cell after decades of manual production. Banelec designed and constructed the system, developed the software and completed installation and commissioning Another aerospace project saw its engineers create a bespoke fan case lifter. The system lifts, lowers and rotates large aircraft fan case units to support engineers during manufacturing operations.
In automotive, Banelec has worked with GKN on automation designed to support increased production. Each project looks very different on the factory floor. Behind them sits the same combination of PLC programming, electrical engineering, automation, drives, sensors, control panels and system integration.
“That variety is one of our strengths,” Banner said. “An idea or engineering principle we have used successfully in one sector can often inform how we approach a completely different application. Our engineers build up an enormous amount of knowledge from working across industries.”
Some of Banelec’s most striking projects have also been delivered much closer to its West Midlands base. At British Steel’s £10 million rail stocking facility in Scunthorpe, Banelec designed a custom control solution for handling 108-metre lengths of finished rail. Eleven hoist units fitted with electromagnets operate together. Variable speed drives provide controlled acceleration and deceleration. Absolute encoders continuously monitor the position of each hoist.
The completed facility can hold around 25,000 tonnes of rail destined for infrastructure projects across the UK and Europe. It is another example of the scale at which a specialist control engineering company can operate.
“People sometimes associate advanced automation with enormous multinational engineering groups,” said Banner.
“The UK has a fantastic network of specialist engineering businesses too. We can be agile. We can get close to an application. We can work directly with customers and develop something specifically for what they want to achieve.” There is also something distinctly Black Country about Banelec’s international growth. The region built its industrial reputation by making things and solving practical engineering problems.
Today, those skills increasingly involve software as well as steel Modern control engineering combines electrical design with PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, robotics, remote monitoring, variable speed drives and increasingly connected production technology Banelec brings those disciplines together under one roof. Its engineers can take a project from an initial concept through design, panel building and software development to installation and commissioning.
“Customers often come to us with an outcome rather than a finished specification,” Banner explained. “They know what they want the machine or process to achieve. Our role is to work through the engineering and create a system that makes it happen. “That is where our experience becomes valuable.”
Manufacturing is becoming more automated, connected and data-driven, in energy, aerospace, defence, automotive sectors, logistics and infrastructure are all investing in smarter equipment and more sophisticated control. That is creating a growing international market for companies able to connect mechanical equipment with electrical control and software.
For Banelec, it means the next interesting enquiry could arrive from almost anywhere. The eventual system might operate in a UK factory. It could control a crane on the other side of the world. It could find its way onto an offshore platform. The engineering still starts in Brierley Hill.
“We genuinely enjoy seeing where the next project takes us,” Banner concluded. “There is a great sense of achievement when something our team has designed and built here is installed thousands of miles away. “We are a Black Country engineering business, but the industries we support and the opportunities we work on are increasingly global. That makes it an exciting place to be.”