PaR launches Europe Handling Solutions Centre of Excellence

PaR has recently agreed to an extended framework agreement to support Sellafield Ltd, allowing the company to increase its commitment to work in the area. PaR has grown its UK team and is now supporting a variety of customers in the nuclear industry, for projects which include cranes, manipulators, custom tooling, robotic handling systems and R&D for decommissioning. The company has been operating at Seascale in the UK since 2011 to directly support the remote handling systems it supplies to Sellafield.

“Opening our new facility in Lillyhall is a critical step in continuing our rapid growth in the UK,” says Jon Sakry, president of PaR Systems Handling Solutions.

The new ‘Remote Handling Centre of Excellence’ for Europe, this new facility will give PaR the space to grow within its traditional marketplace of nuclear remote handling, while developing other core technology solutions into other markets such as aerospace, automotive and commercial material handling.

The Centre will include specialised overhead cranes, which are essential for its larger projects such as crane manufacturing and testing of remote and robotic systems, and it will also provide a demonstration facility for PaR’s ‘Expertoperator’ crane anti-sway and motion control systems. The new facility has classroom and conference space, which will be used for PaR’s role as a training provider and to support larger projects.

PaR will be building an ‘Inactive Demonstration Facility’ to support remote operations in both nuclear processing facilities and for decommissioning applications. This facility will mock–up a full ‘hot cell’, equipped with Master Slave Manipulators, a nuclear crane and a PaR robotic manipulator system, all viewed through cell windows to simulate real ‘hot cell’ environments.

John McGibbon, PaR Systems UK managing director says “I am excited by the opening of our new facility at Lillyhall, as it will allow us greater space to support our nuclear remote handling work for Sellafield and our other nuclear customers, as well as space for additional automation and handling equipment for testing, research and development. We are proud to add this location in West Cumbria and to support the local industrial businesses already established in the community.”