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Vinçotte (company)
Encyclopedia
Vinçotte is a Belgian
accredited inspection and certification organisation, that controlled 75% of the Belgian safety, reliability market in 2004. This holding
is the result of a merger
between two similar non-profit inspection associations : AIB and Association Vinçotte.
In 1872, Maurice Urban, a director of the National Railway Company of Belgium, asked Robert Vinçotte
, a young engineer
, to help found an organisation to inspect steam boilers
in factories. The "Association pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" was born. Its principal aims were twofold: the inspection of steam boilers to prevent explosions was coupled with an advocacy of a more economic use of power. Its personnel was rather limited: apart from the director, who also did inspection work, only two other engineers were employed.
The Association grew rapidly though, because of, among other reasons, the increasing legal pressure on factory owners to make their workplaces safer for their employees. Thus, in 1876, the Association was able to report that it had almost doubled its number of inspection visits in only two years. Said legal pressure resulted mainly in the July 2, 1899 and March 10, 1900 laws on safety and health. Robert Vinçotte was heavily involved in the drafting of these laws as, by then, he had a huge experience in the relatively new area of reliability engineering
: not only had he led the Association for more than 25 years, but he had also made an important study visit to the United States
in 1881, a trip that resulted in a series of basic mathematical rules for the reliability of steam boilers. Its success allowed the Association in 1887 to offer its employees a life insurance payable upon retirement.
In 1905 the Association expanded its inspection domain, due to the advent of electrical devices and installations
. Steam boilers would remain its main area of operation for some time to come though: in 1910 it inspected more boilers than the combined inspection organisations of Germany
and France
, respectively. But the First World War would put a halt to the Association's growth: not only did the latter refuse to inspect German-controlled installations, but a great number of its engineers were drafted into army service. This bleak period did not pass with the end of the war: 1919 and 1920 brought massive inflation and attendant high wage costs. This combined with the death of Robert Vinçotte Jr., son of the founder and the director of the Association at the time.
Two years later, the Association would officially become a non-profit organisation, as this concept had just entered Belgian law. The occasion was also used for a name change: the lengthy "Association pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" was lengthened to "Association Vinçotte pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" in honour of its first director. Only in 1936 would the implication of only inspecting steam boilers (true in the beginning, but not anymore by 1922) be elided for the short "Association Vinçotte" (henceforth: AV).
In the 1930s, the gradual loss of the focus on steam boiler inspections would continue: not only would AV inspect more and more electrical power plants, but it also sent its engineers to the nascent European airlines. In 1938, AV cooperated with its competitor, the "Association des Industriels de Belgique" (AIB, cf. below) to perform the first radiographic inspection
of weldings. It was applied to the bridges under construction over the Albert Canal
. After inspection, these bridges were shown to be disastrously dangerous for the weight they were supposed to bear. In the same year, AV also experimented with gamma ray
inspections, utilizing radium
obtained from Union Minière
's mines in Katanga
.
Similarly to the first one, the Second World War put a temporary stop to AV's activities. Yet business would pick up faster this time, allowing a study trip of Richard Vinçotte, another son of the first director, to the United States
, in 1947. In the same year, the new "Règlement Général pour la Protection du Travail" ("General Rules for the Work Protection") allowed a broad range of activities for accredited
inspection organisations such as AV and AIB.
Meanwhile AV kept on expanding, gaining more and more international prestige. It was this prestige that allowed it to inspect one of the biggest turbo alternators
in the world, which was being built in England for the United States in 1969. 1969 was also a good year because it was then that the nuclear
division of AV was founded. Called AV Nucléaire, it would focus on making secure the growing number of nuclear power plants in Belgium and abroad.
Innovation would continue in the 70s, when AV started thermographic inspection
s and nondestructive testing
using Foucault currents. Anticipating the problems of the future, it also invested in noise pollution
research and set up the first mobile lab in Belgium to investigate air quality
through samples. In 1973, looking backward on the occasion its 100th anniversary, AV could proudly announce that none of the steam boilers that exploded in Belgium had been under its regular inspection.
As with so many companies of the era, the 80s brought financial hardship and cutbacks. This finally led to a merger
with its competitor AIB, making the new "AIB-Vinçotte" the biggest player at inspection and certification on the Belgian market. Both companies had already closely cooperated in Controlatom, and of course shared a great deal of heritage, all the way back to their roots
.
In 1890, 13 engineers, captains of industry, and representatives of parliament gathered to found the "Association des Industriels de Belgique pour l'étude et la propagation des engins et mesures propres à préserver les ouvriers des accidents du travail" (usually shortened to AIB). This happened under the impulse of Henri Adan, the director of the Royale Belge, a Belgian insurance company. In the speech he gave on the first meeting of the board, Adan strongly expressed his faith in private initiative instead of state interference:
Of course, as described in the previous section of this article, the Belgian state would introduce legislation concerning the safety of the workplace only ten years later, slightly undermining the pure laissez-faire
philosophy enunciated here. Thus, later presidents of the Association such as Yvon Verwilst would rather claim (in 1940) that AIB is "le corollaire de celle de pouvoirs publics et qu'elle se considérait comme l'auxiliaire de ceux-ci" This switch in rhetoric between claiming to anticipate the state and merely serving it as a supplement, is a constant in AIB's speeches up to 1940.
The structure of the newborn Association was to be non-profit: members would pay fees and get regular inspections and safety education by engineers of AIB. From the beginning, AIB had a general focus on security and education. Thus, it did not hesitate to create new divisions. Already in 1894, president M. Jottrand declared that henceforth AIB would start inspecting chains, whose breakage was causing heavy accidents in the mining and construction business..
Fame came quickly for AIB, in Belgium and abroad: there was the admired exposition in Brussels
of machine parts and how they might fail, and in Paris
the Association received a gold medal for two expositions (in 1900 and 1904). In 1910, AIB exposed in Brussels, Liège
, Milan
and Saint-Louis.
After the First World War, AIB's personnel remained constant, and hirings started soaring after 1931, showing the solid expansion of the Association in that period. The surplus in money was invested in a unique machine, one that could exert a test power of 800 tons on cables and chains. At the time (1938), there was no other like it in the world .
In the 50s, AIB would focus on organising international congresses: in 1955 the First International Congress on Nondestructive Testing
and in 1958 the Second International Congress for the Prevention of Work Accidents.
Finally, in 1989, it merged with its major competitor in Belgium, the Association Vinçotte, making the combined "AIB-Vinçotte" the biggest player on the Belgian market.
structure. In 2004, it shortened its name to just "Vinçotte", and at the moment it is active in 14 countries including Belgium, the United States, Morocco
, Japan
, and Oman
.
After being registered as an Omani company in year 2001, Vincotte Oman is targeting to develop local human resources & generating new careers to Omani nationals. Vincotte Oman personnel has reached over 140 engineers, inspectors, technicians and other supporting staff with over 45% Omanis.
The Managing Director is Ali. A Muscati and the General Manager is Saji. E Joseph.
has decided to ask Vinçotte who is accredited by the French Nuclear Authorities ASN to assess the confinement vessel, heart of the project, following the French Nuclear Regulatory requirements.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
accredited inspection and certification organisation, that controlled 75% of the Belgian safety, reliability market in 2004. This holding
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
is the result of a merger
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
between two similar non-profit inspection associations : AIB and Association Vinçotte.
History
An overview of Vinçotte's history is bound to discourse on the two competing associations that merged in 1989. These two associations were : Association Vinçotte and AIB (Association des Industriels de Belgique).Association Vinçotte
Robert Vinçotte
Robert Vinçotte was a Belgian engineer who laid the basis for industrial workplace safety in his native country. He was involved in the founding of the two companies that would dominate the Belgian inspection and certification market during the twentieth century...
, a young engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, to help found an organisation to inspect steam boilers
Boiler (steam generator)
A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water. Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure but, at pressures above this, it is more...
in factories. The "Association pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" was born. Its principal aims were twofold: the inspection of steam boilers to prevent explosions was coupled with an advocacy of a more economic use of power. Its personnel was rather limited: apart from the director, who also did inspection work, only two other engineers were employed.
The Association grew rapidly though, because of, among other reasons, the increasing legal pressure on factory owners to make their workplaces safer for their employees. Thus, in 1876, the Association was able to report that it had almost doubled its number of inspection visits in only two years. Said legal pressure resulted mainly in the July 2, 1899 and March 10, 1900 laws on safety and health. Robert Vinçotte was heavily involved in the drafting of these laws as, by then, he had a huge experience in the relatively new area of reliability engineering
Reliability engineering
Reliability engineering is an engineering field, that deals with the study, evaluation, and life-cycle management of reliability: the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. It is often measured as a probability of...
: not only had he led the Association for more than 25 years, but he had also made an important study visit to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1881, a trip that resulted in a series of basic mathematical rules for the reliability of steam boilers. Its success allowed the Association in 1887 to offer its employees a life insurance payable upon retirement.
History of electricity
The history of electromagnetism dates back over several thousand years. In the history of electromagnetic theory, the ancients would have been acquainted with the effects of atmospheric electricity, in particular lightning as thunderstorms in most southern latitudes are common, and they also knew...
. Steam boilers would remain its main area of operation for some time to come though: in 1910 it inspected more boilers than the combined inspection organisations of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, respectively. But the First World War would put a halt to the Association's growth: not only did the latter refuse to inspect German-controlled installations, but a great number of its engineers were drafted into army service. This bleak period did not pass with the end of the war: 1919 and 1920 brought massive inflation and attendant high wage costs. This combined with the death of Robert Vinçotte Jr., son of the founder and the director of the Association at the time.
Two years later, the Association would officially become a non-profit organisation, as this concept had just entered Belgian law. The occasion was also used for a name change: the lengthy "Association pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" was lengthened to "Association Vinçotte pour la surveillance des chaudières à vapeur" in honour of its first director. Only in 1936 would the implication of only inspecting steam boilers (true in the beginning, but not anymore by 1922) be elided for the short "Association Vinçotte" (henceforth: AV).
In the 1930s, the gradual loss of the focus on steam boiler inspections would continue: not only would AV inspect more and more electrical power plants, but it also sent its engineers to the nascent European airlines. In 1938, AV cooperated with its competitor, the "Association des Industriels de Belgique" (AIB, cf. below) to perform the first radiographic inspection
Radiographic testing
Radiographic Testing , or industrial radiography, is a nondestructive testing method of inspecting materials for hidden flaws by using the ability of short wavelength electromagnetic radiation to penetrate various materials.Either an X-ray machine or a radioactive source can be used as a source...
of weldings. It was applied to the bridges under construction over the Albert Canal
Albert Canal
The Albert Canal is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, named after King Albert I of Belgium. It connects the major cities Antwerp and Liège and the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. It has a depth of , a free height of and a total length of...
. After inspection, these bridges were shown to be disastrously dangerous for the weight they were supposed to bear. In the same year, AV also experimented with gamma ray
Gamma ray
Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
inspections, utilizing radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
obtained from Union Minière
Union Minière du Haut Katanga
The Union Minière du Haut Katanga was a Belgian mining company, once operating in Katanga, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
's mines in Katanga
Katanga Province
Katanga Province is one of the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province. Under the new constitution, the province was to be replaced by four smaller provinces by February 2009; this did not actually take place.Katanga's regional...
.
Similarly to the first one, the Second World War put a temporary stop to AV's activities. Yet business would pick up faster this time, allowing a study trip of Richard Vinçotte, another son of the first director, to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in 1947. In the same year, the new "Règlement Général pour la Protection du Travail" ("General Rules for the Work Protection") allowed a broad range of activities for accredited
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...
inspection organisations such as AV and AIB.
Meanwhile AV kept on expanding, gaining more and more international prestige. It was this prestige that allowed it to inspect one of the biggest turbo alternators
Alternator
An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used...
in the world, which was being built in England for the United States in 1969. 1969 was also a good year because it was then that the nuclear
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
division of AV was founded. Called AV Nucléaire, it would focus on making secure the growing number of nuclear power plants in Belgium and abroad.
Innovation would continue in the 70s, when AV started thermographic inspection
Thermographic inspection
Thermographic inspection refers to the nondestructive testing of parts, materials or systems through the imaging of the thermal patterns at the object's surface. Strictly speaking, the term thermography alone, refers to all thermographic inspection techniques regardless of the physical phenomena...
s and nondestructive testing
Nondestructive testing
Nondestructive testing or Non-destructive testing is a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage....
using Foucault currents. Anticipating the problems of the future, it also invested in noise pollution
Noise pollution
Noise pollution is excessive, displeasing human, animal or machine-created environmental noise that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life...
research and set up the first mobile lab in Belgium to investigate air quality
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
through samples. In 1973, looking backward on the occasion its 100th anniversary, AV could proudly announce that none of the steam boilers that exploded in Belgium had been under its regular inspection.
As with so many companies of the era, the 80s brought financial hardship and cutbacks. This finally led to a merger
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
with its competitor AIB, making the new "AIB-Vinçotte" the biggest player at inspection and certification on the Belgian market. Both companies had already closely cooperated in Controlatom, and of course shared a great deal of heritage, all the way back to their roots
Robert Vinçotte
Robert Vinçotte was a Belgian engineer who laid the basis for industrial workplace safety in his native country. He was involved in the founding of the two companies that would dominate the Belgian inspection and certification market during the twentieth century...
.
AIB (Association des Industriels de Belgique)
Comme le disait M. Westerroiien van Mesteren, le promoteur de l'Association Néerlandaise pour prévenir les accidents dans les fabriques et chantiers, il est de la plus haute importance pour un petit pays de se joindre au mouvement international qui permet à l'initiative privée de l'industriel, de faire le bien sans qu'une loi coercitive lui prescrive ce devoir et le rende odieux.
Cette appréciation trouvait particulièrement application en notre pays; il était impossible que nos traditions de liberté nous permissent d'hésiter entre un régime coercitif et les enseignements d'un régime libre.
Of course, as described in the previous section of this article, the Belgian state would introduce legislation concerning the safety of the workplace only ten years later, slightly undermining the pure laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
philosophy enunciated here. Thus, later presidents of the Association such as Yvon Verwilst would rather claim (in 1940) that AIB is "le corollaire de celle de pouvoirs publics et qu'elle se considérait comme l'auxiliaire de ceux-ci" This switch in rhetoric between claiming to anticipate the state and merely serving it as a supplement, is a constant in AIB's speeches up to 1940.
The structure of the newborn Association was to be non-profit: members would pay fees and get regular inspections and safety education by engineers of AIB. From the beginning, AIB had a general focus on security and education. Thus, it did not hesitate to create new divisions. Already in 1894, president M. Jottrand declared that henceforth AIB would start inspecting chains, whose breakage was causing heavy accidents in the mining and construction business..
Fame came quickly for AIB, in Belgium and abroad: there was the admired exposition in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
of machine parts and how they might fail, and in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
the Association received a gold medal for two expositions (in 1900 and 1904). In 1910, AIB exposed in Brussels, Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Saint-Louis.
After the First World War, AIB's personnel remained constant, and hirings started soaring after 1931, showing the solid expansion of the Association in that period. The surplus in money was invested in a unique machine, one that could exert a test power of 800 tons on cables and chains. At the time (1938), there was no other like it in the world .
In the 50s, AIB would focus on organising international congresses: in 1955 the First International Congress on Nondestructive Testing
Nondestructive testing
Nondestructive testing or Non-destructive testing is a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage....
and in 1958 the Second International Congress for the Prevention of Work Accidents.
Finally, in 1989, it merged with its major competitor in Belgium, the Association Vinçotte, making the combined "AIB-Vinçotte" the biggest player on the Belgian market.
After the Merger
In the 1990s, AIB-Vinçotte stabilized itself financially, and adopted a holdingHolding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
structure. In 2004, it shortened its name to just "Vinçotte", and at the moment it is active in 14 countries including Belgium, the United States, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
.
Vincotte Oman
AIB-Vinçotte International & Partners Oman was established in year 1999. It provides professional and specialized services to clients in The Sultanate of Oman mainly industries and specially the Oil & Gas Sector. Besides other small contracts, Vincotte Oman currently runs the Government Gas Engineering QHSE Services Contract and Operation Inspection Services Contract for Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO).After being registered as an Omani company in year 2001, Vincotte Oman is targeting to develop local human resources & generating new careers to Omani nationals. Vincotte Oman personnel has reached over 140 engineers, inspectors, technicians and other supporting staff with over 45% Omanis.
The Managing Director is Ali. A Muscati and the General Manager is Saji. E Joseph.
ITER Project
In 2008, ITERITER
ITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
has decided to ask Vinçotte who is accredited by the French Nuclear Authorities ASN to assess the confinement vessel, heart of the project, following the French Nuclear Regulatory requirements.