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News Release from: DavyMarkham | Subject: DavyMarkham
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 February 2006
UK heavy engineering firm changes to
legacy names
Following the 2005 management buyout of Kvaerner UK, from the Norwegian Kvaerner ASA group, AK Heavy Engineering has changed its name to DavyMarkham, with immediate effect.
AK Heavy Engineering, the Sheffield-based engineering design and manufacturing specialist, has announced that it is changing its name to DavyMarkham, with immediate effect The new identity reflects the proud heritage and engineering legacy of its two original founding companies, Davy Brothers of Sheffield and Markham and Co of Chesterfield, each of which has contributed immensely toward Britain's heavy engineering infrastructure and made its reputation known around the world
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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To serve a Niagara hydro-electric project, DavyMarkham manufactured a cutter head support and a final drive housing for what is claimed to be world's largest hard rock TBM (tunnel boring machine).
It is felt that combining these historic trade names will provide a suitable platform for developing fresh marketing opportunities in the steel industry, civil engineering, hydroelectric and nuclear power, mining and tunnelling.
The name change follows last year's management buyout of Kvaerner UK, from the Norwegian Kvaerner ASA group, and a series of different corporate identities, since Kvaerner Metals Davy and Kvaerner Markham were merged together on the current site in 1998.
Long term customers have also voiced interest in a return to the original names, as have present and former staff from both Sheffield and Chesterfield.
Further reading
Reconditioning service for machines and parts
DavyMarkham has announced the introduction of a new dedicated Reconditioning Service, at its Darnall Works, which includes a fast-track capacity able to respond within 24 hours.
Machining, inspection and proof assembly
Sheffield heavy engineering company, DavyMarkham is undertaking a GBP1 million manufacturing contract for the finish machining, inspection and proof assembly of a 5m wide steel plate mill stand.
Tunnel boring components engineered
Sheffield engineering company DavyMarkham has produced the giant cutter head support and final drive housing support for a hard rock TBM (tunnel boring machine).
DavyMarkham, as it is now known, occupies a large 35,000m2 factory complex in Prince of Wales Road, Sheffield, where Davy Bros originally acquired a greenfield site in 1921 for its purpose-built Darnall Works.
It continues to boast one of the largest and best equipped engineering works in Europe, with the capacity to handle single lifts up to 350 tonnes and complete assemblies beyond 1000 tonnes, giant machining and fabrication shops, and a huge variety of horizontal and vertical borers, CNC lathes, milling machines, gear cutters and grinders, for handling a myriad precision heavy engineering projects In recent years, the Sheffield operation has maintained its forerunners' heritage of undertaking important steel rolling mill, bridge building, mining, tunnelling, hydropower and general engineering projects.
Landmark contracts in the last six years alone include mechanical and hydraulic systems for Gateshead's Millennium Bridge, mine winches for gold and nickel exploration in Canada, tunnel boring machinery for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, huge knife-gate valves for the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, water turbines for the Cruachan Hydroelectric Power Station, power cable storage turntables for Pirelli, control tower structures for Heathrow's Terminal 5, swing mechanisms for Selby Bridge, the structural core of Britain's tallest sculpture, 'B of the Bang', and the largest-ever bolted steel mill stand for China.
Its order books include such renowned industry names as Rolls Royce, BNFL, CE Hydro, Agnico Eagle, Voest-Alpine Industries, BAA, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Falconbridge.
With almost 300 years' manufacturing history between them, its corporate forebears, Davy and Markham, can point to countless legacy projects, from the original River Don steam engine, British Steel rolling mills and the Thames Barrier, to London, Paris and Moscow metros, Xcraft miniature submarines, the Sellafield reactor refuelling plant and the Channel Tunnel.
It is estimated that, at one time, a fifth of all coal mined in Britain was brought to the surface by Markham equipment; whilst at its height, Davy was the largest European steel plant contractor and one of the top three iron and steel engineering companies in the world.
Davy was founded by David and Dennis Davy in 1830, initially as a mechanical engineering business and, for the latter part of the century, the pre-eminent manufacturer of steel mills and forging plant, as well as steam engines.
Perhaps its most lasting early legacy was a 40MN (4,000 tonf) forging press for Charles Cammell and Co, one of five armoured plate mills ordered concurrently, whose 12,000HP River Don steam engine still functions at Sheffield's Kelham Island industrial museum.
It was also one of the first companies to introduce electricity at its works, in 1881.
By the turn of the century, Davy's reputation was internationally recognised, having delivered presses to Japan, China and the USA, then in 1935 it secured orders for six forging presses from the Soviet Union.
A merger with United Engineering of Pittsburgh later gave Davy access to world-leading expertise in hot and cold strip mills, while in the sixties, seventies and early eighties the company supplied flagship mills to Brazil, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Morocco and the British steel industry, in the process winning many Queen's Awards for Export.
Nor was it just rolling mills and presses that were built by Davy: in 1954 it cast the main dish pivots for the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, whilst in 1973 it fabricated the huge bell cranks that activate the gates of the Thames Barrier.
On the new technology front, it promoted process control systems to the steel industry and, in 1984, purchased a GBP 200,000 supercomputer as a dedicated finite element analysis machine, having earlier pioneered the use of computer-aided design and the application of interactive computer systems for project control.
Meanwhile, Charles Paxton Markham had founded Markham and Co in Chesterfield, in 1889, and within twelve years the workforce had escalated to 600.
From then until 1998, when it merged with Davy, it designed and built 280 mine winders, half steam driven and the remainder electrically powered.
From the 1930's onwards, it supplied winding engines and headgear pulleys to mines in Africa, Canada and Australia, then in the late 70's it received a further boost from the NCB's Plan for Coal, with orders that included five six-rope winches for the new Selby mine.
For this market, it also developed a medium-pressure hydraulic winder, to improve effectiveness and safety, and helped change drum construction from cast iron to lighter fabricated steel.
Tunnelling equipment also formed a significant part of Markham's business, with orders for TBMs (tunnel boring machines) dating back to 1889.
Since then, over 450 TBMs and shields were built for such notable projects as the London, Paris, Moscow and Barcelona metro rail tunnels, the Post Office's Mount Pleasant underground railway, the Thames crossings at Rotherhithe and Dartford, and the Mersey Tunnel.
In 1987, it won the contract for the two British TBMs used on the Channel Tunnel, which were deployed for three years and buried mid-channel to allow the French TBMs to achieve breakthrough in 1991.
Under a licence agreement with Kawasaki, it also built tunnelling machines for the Docklands Light Railway.
From the late 20's, Markham manufactured water turbines for major overseas hydroelectric projects in Uganda, Zambia, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the USA, as well as pump storage turbines at Loch Ness and Cruachan power stations.
During WWII it built Xcraft miniature submarines under strict secrecy for the Ministry of Defence, whilst post-war it designed and supplied machinery for the 100ft diameter Goonhilly Radio Telescope and two steerable aerials for the GPO Research Establishment.
It also built the 430 ton reactor refuelling machine for the UKAEA nuclear site at Sellafield.
Markham was already owned by John Brown and Co when in 1986 it was acquired by the Trafalgar House Group, sometime owner of Express Newspapers, joining such diverse sister companies as the Ritz Hotel, the Cunard Steamship Company and, by then, Davy of Sheffield.
Trafalgar House was itself taken over by Norwegian group Kvaerner in 1996 and two years later the Markham business was transferred from Chesterfield to the Metals Division based at the Davy works in Sheffield.
The Davy and Markham trade names were only finally phased out as late as 2003, with the restructured company operating most recently as AK Heavy Engineering.
As can be seen, the cultural and engineering heritage of both forerunners runs strongly through the newly renamed DavyMarkham, with core business areas such as steel mills, mine winders, tunnel boring and water turbines still retained and relatively new technologies like moving bridge structures and renewable energy having their roots in traditional engineering projects.
Many former Davy and Markham employees also work at the plant, bringing together diverse skills in heavy engineering, machining, fabrication, assembly, systems design and project management, to create a unique British manufacturing capability.
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