OXE Diesel, the world’s first commercially available high power diesel outboard engine, has recently entered service with launch customer Marine Harvest Scotland. The world’s largest Atlantic Salmon producer accepted their first OXE Diesel unit from Proteum, the UK & Ireland distributor for OXE Diesel, for service at a salmon farm in the Hebrides.

The 200HP OXE Diesel has the highest power density of any marine diesel and offers the range and performance to operate in the extreme environments required by commercial operators.

“OXE is proving itself in our trials and has performed well. We operate in remote locations where petrol is expensive so there are significant logistical and cost advantages for us to have the option to operate diesel engines” said Colin Whitehead, Engineering Manager (South), Marine Harvest, which operates some 55 farms in Scotland.”

In addition to coastal fishing, aquaculture and ferry operations, other potential applications for OXE include survey work, emergency services, EEZ protection and other security related operations. As well as offering lower maintenance, longer service life and lower fuel consumption diesel can be safely stored on site and above ground for easy access. Petrol engines are also becoming prohibited on safety grounds in some areas, such as naval applications, where NATO’s single fuel policy to improve safety and interoperability is driving the transition to diesel.

OXE Diesel incorporates a unique self-contained belt propulsor unit (S-BPU) that eliminates the traditional high maintenance bevel gears and transfer shafts by utilising the latest belt drive technology.  It uses a conventional automotive engine block adapted for marine use.  Unlike most outboards OXE is mounted horizontally, which improves reliability and reduces maintenance.

About Proteum

Proteum is part of SC Group’s growing marine business and provides a one-stop-shop in the 200-500hp inboard and outboard propulsion market for commercial, leisure and military users.   It is the UK distributor for MarineDiesel Sweden’s VGT engines and for drive manufacturers, such as Konrad and MSA.   SC Group also owns Poole based BUKH Diesel UK Ltd and distributes BUKH A/S’ SOLAS approved engines and other products in the commercial, leisure and safety boat market.

Blackhill Engineering have an exciting and informative new brochure.

To view the brochure, please follow this link:

https://blackhillengineering.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/09/2016-Blackhill-Brochure.pdf

Please click the link below to read an interesting article on planned diversification within SC Group, published today in Insider Media.

https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/southwest/sc-group-targeting-diversification?utm_source=southwest_newsletter&utm_campaign=southwest_news_tracker&utm_medium=top_story_article

 

Ben Gaffney has joined UK high mobility vehicle specialist, Supacat, as Deputy Head of New Programmes following a 17 year career in the Royal Marines. A graduate of the Joint Command and Staff course at the UK Defence Academy, he brings both Operational and Defence capability management experience.

He has been responsible for the delivery of Combat capabilities to front line units and the development of specialist capabilities to the UK’s Commando Force. In his new role he will oversee the successful delivery of the £23 million Norwegian Special Operations Vehicle Project awarded to Supacat last year for a new fleet of HMT Extenda vehicles.

Ben will also be responsible for developing new commercial opportunities in UK and export defence markets for Supacat’s range of vehicles, which include the HMT Series, LRV 400 and SPV 400. Supacat has a world lead in the niche special operations vehicle sector where the HMT Extenda has become the vehicle of choice.

“Ben brings to Supacat a huge amount of end user experience in protected mobility and his understanding of users’ needs will be a major asset in building strong relationships with our stakeholders. Ben also has the distinction of successfully rowing the Atlantic in a two man boat and we’re delighted to have him on our team”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat.

SC Group has appointed commercial collaboration specialist Al Goodwin as Head of Commercial, a newly created role which bolsters the engineering group’s management team. Al joins from UK Top 100 law firm, Foot Anstey, where as a Partner he led a growing Complex Contracts and Collaborations practice.   As part of this he also advised SC Group.

He qualified with the London based international firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and advised on more than £40-billion worth of major projects involving the UK Ministry of Defence, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Barclays Bank plc and numerous public and private sector clients across a wide range of industry sectors.

He is also a frequent contributor to the Procurement and Outsourcing Journal, a regular speaker on Collaboration, and was commended in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers 2014.

“We are delighted to welcome Al to SC Group. His expertise and sector experience will be invaluable in driving forward our growth and diversification strategy, which is based on forming successful alliances and teaming agreements to enter new sectors, such as nuclear, and to expand within our core defence market,” said Nick Ames, CEO of SC Group.

SC Group has been best known for its Supacat brand of high mobility vehicles, such as `Jackal` operated by British Armed Forces in Afghanistan and by Special Forces worldwide. Over recent years the company has successfully diversified into adjacent sectors by applying its hostile environment engineering skills to develop and build products for the marine, renewable energy and oil & gas sectors

With permission, we now have these fantastic images in our HMT400 Gallery.

Please click the link below to view:

https://www.supacat.com/products/hmt/hmt400/2/

 

The January 2016 edition of Manufacturing and Engineeering (MEM) Magazine features a fantastic three double-page feature article on Blackhill Engineering, part of SC Group.

The online version can be accessed free of charge from the following link:

https://www.joomag.com/magazine/manufacturing-and-engineering-magazine-volume-425-january-2016/0133695001454414574?short

Please click through to page 48-49 for the relevant article.

 

Blackhill Engineering, a part of the newly formed SC Group, are proud to announce our recent membership of the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF).

WEAF is a membership trade association that champions and supports the interests of the aerospace and defence industry in the South West of England. The forum leads the sector in delivering national supply chain initiatives, which connect the SME community to the Primes.

For many years at Christmas time, an illuminated star shone from the top of St Mary’s church in the centre of Hemyock, which is the neighbouring village to Dunkeswell.  Unfortunately for the last four years the star was not used as it had fallen into disrepair.   Following fundraising and a successful application for National Lottery funding, a new star was commissioned

Nick Jones, Director and Founder of SC Group and a resident of Hemyock was approached and kindly accepted the challenge of working from the scaled-down model provided to achieve a design which would be structurally safe and strong enough to stand the worst of the Devon weather. One of SC Group’s Mechanical Design Engineers, Tim Stokes soon had the finished design completed and Development Workshop Technician Luke Ridler offered up his own time to fabricate the whole assembly in aluminium, including a very intricate central node which was the key to the whole construction.  Consideration was taken that the star had to be hauled up the church tower in pieces and then assembled in situ for safety reasons.  The church tower is 30 m tall and the star adds another 8 m to that.

All components were delivered to deadline for the morning of the 4^th Dec, one day before the switch on. The construction was so well designed, constructed and finished that with the assistance of willing muscles heaving on a few ropes, the star was securely in place and assembled by midday.  The grand switch-on took place on the night of the 5^th December.  A ‘Lights Parade’ with lanterns, samba bands and local musicians led a procession of over 1000 people to the church where an illuminated flower ascended to the star, using a block and pulley device.  This in turn switched on the six-point 3-dimensional construction, to a great cheer from the crowd.

Nick Jones said: “We’re delighted to help our local community in this way. The star looks simply fantastic at night and is another demonstration of SC Groups capabilities when it comes to solving unique engineering problems in very short timescales. We wish everyone in the local community a very Happy Christmas”!

The new SC Innovation brand is being launched at Advanced Engineering to offer cross sector customers high specification equipment for challenging environments and value-added Engineering Services. At the show SC Innovation is highlighting its proven capability on projects ranging from the RNLI Lifeboat Launch & Recovery System to Bloodhound’s high performance all-terrain support vehicles.

SC Innovation is the new brand for delivering engineering solutions to non-defence customers of SC Group, formerly known as Supacat. In September the company rebranded under a new SC identity take the company forward in its expansion into new markets and provide a clear customer focus for its products. The Supacat name remains in place for the company’s defence business.

The company had outgrown its brand by successfully applying its rugged engineering expertise in high mobility vehicles, notably `Jackal` operated by British Forces in Afghanistan, to solving high specification engineering challenges in adjacent sectors.   The `springboard` has been the Lifeboat Launch & Recovery System, developed with the RNLI to transport the 18 tonne Shannon Class over the British Isles’ most demanding beaches.

Engineering Services form part of SC Innovation’s offering to customers and the RNLI project demonstrates the company’s comprehensive engineering capabilities; from innovative design to systems integration, modelling, trials and prototype development through to full production.

Also being showcased at Advanced Engineering are the BOLT 2 wave energy converter, which was engineered and built for Fred Olsen and the 6×6 High Mobility Transport support vehicles for The Bloodhound Project. The SMV 24 multi-purpose vessel highlights the company’s fresh thinking and is a new type of flexible support craft conceived to service the marine industry, including offshore wind farms. The first SMV 24 secured James Fisher Marine Services as the launch customer and has since undertaken a wide range of high value maintenance and operational roles.

“Over the last decade the company has become one of the world’s leading companies in developing bespoke handling and support equipment, both mobile and static, to operate in the harshest of environments, from marine to renewables, mineral exploration, oil & gas and emergency service vehicles, where high performance, reliability and safety are paramount”, said Joe Wilcox, Head of SC Innovation.

 

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SC INNOVATION WEBSITE.