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Westinghouse Electric Company
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- For other uses, see Westinghouse.
The Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) is a multi-national nuclear technologies company, a part of the original Westinghouse Electric. The company's operations incorporate various nuclear services, power plants, nuclear fuel, inspection equipment, advanced welding services, and remote handling equipment to utilities and governments in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Westinghouse World Headquarters is located in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
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Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Westinghouse.
The Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) is a multi-national nuclear technologies company, a part of the original Westinghouse Electric. The company's operations incorporate various nuclear services, power plants, nuclear fuel, inspection equipment, advanced welding services, and remote handling equipment to utilities and governments in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Westinghouse World Headquarters is located in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Toshiba Group is its majority owner.
History
For further chronological details, see Westinghouse Electric (1886)#Timeline of company evolution
- 1886 Westinghouse Electric Company is founded by George Westinghouse.
- 1889 Westinghouse Electric Company changes name to Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company
- 1893 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company lights Chicago World's Fair with a quarter million lights.
- 1910 George Westinghouse retires.
- 1914 George Westinghouse dies, his life work including 361 patents and the founding of 60 companies.
- 1937 Westinghouse creates first industrial as centerpiece of nuclear physics research.
- 1945 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company changes name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
- 1995 Westinghouse Electric Corporation buys CBS and begins selling off its industrial and defense businesses.
- 1996 the company sells its defense electronics business and purchased Infinity Broadcasting.
- 1997 Westinghouse Electric Company changes name to CBS Corporation.
- 1997 the company sells non-nuclear power generation unit to Siemens AG and runs in the US under the name Siemens Westinghouse Power generation until 2005
- 1998 the company CBS Corporation sells its nuclear business to BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels Limited) who starts to operate it as Westinghouse Electric Company. The same year, CBS Corporation creates a new subsidiary company called Westinghouse Electric Corporation to manage the Westinghouse brand.
- 2000 the ABB Group's nuclear power business, formerly Combustion Engineering (CE), was purchased by BNFL and merged into Westinghouse Electric Company.
- 2006 Westinghouse Electric Company completed acquisition of PaR Nuclear/Ederer Nuclear Cranes, providing fuel and cask handling equipment systems.
- 2006 Westinghouse Electric Company was sold by BNFL to Toshiba.
- 2007 Westinghouse Electric Company reaches acquisition agreement for IST Nuclear (ISTN) of IST Holdings.
- 2007 Westinghouse Electric Company acquires Carolina Energy Solutions (CES) and its affiliates Aggressive Equipment (AE), now WEC Machining; Construction Institute of America (CIA), now WEC Welding Institute; and Carolina United Services, now Carolina Union Services.
- 2007 Westinghouse Electric Company acquires Astare, a French nuclear engineering company headquartered near Paris.
Role in Nuclear Renaissance
A revived interest in the nuclear power generation field led to Westinghouse's development of the AP1000 reactor, the first Generation III+ reactor to receive final design approval from the NRC. Four of these units are currently scheduled to be constructed in China, with the first due to come on-line in November 2013. In the United States, as of January 2009, six AP1000 plants have been ordered, and several other customers have selected the AP1000 as their preferred technology, should they decide to build new nuclear plants.
Westinghouse are also one of the two vendors in the final bidding process for new nuclear plants in South Africa, and the AP1000 design is widely expected to be one of the two likely reactor designs to be built in the UK, should new reactors be built there.
Europe
Westinghouse Electric Company has several fully owned subsidiaries in Europe such as the European Service Center (also called Westinghouse Electric Belgium) located in Nivelles, Belgium, where equipment is prepared for projects throughout Europe. After the takeover of ABB Reaktor in Germany, Westinghouse transferred radiological storage activities located in Ladenburg, Germany, to the existing site in Nivelles, Belgium, which was extended. Soon after that extension, another expansion followed as employees in the Brussels office were also transferred to Nivelles. It is estimated that 150 people were working in Nivelles at the end of 2005.
In 2001, Westinghouse took over a company named Logitest in France that specialized in non-destructive inspection of nuclear steam generator plant for EDF. From there Westinghouse started to expand its business in France. The company Westinghouse Electrique France is now located in Les Ulis and Marseille. About 300 employees are now part of Westinghouse in France.
Sale to Toshiba
In July 2005 BNFL confirmed it planned to sell Westinghouse, then estimated to be worth $1.8bn (£1bn). However the bid attracted interest from several companies, including Toshiba, General Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and when the Financial Times reported on January 23, 2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at $5bn (£2.8bn). On February 6, 2006 Toshiba confirmed it was buying Westinghouse Electric Company for $5.4bn and announced it would sell a minority stake to investors.
The sale surprised many industry experts who questioned the wisdom of BNFL selling one of the world's largest producers of nuclear reactors shortly before the market for nuclear power is expected to grow substantially; China, the United States and the United Kingdom are all expected to invest heavily in nuclear power. However The Economist gives several reasons in favor of a sale; the commercial risk of the company's business in Asia may be too high for taxpayers money, if Westinghouse won the bid for any new nuclear stations in the UK competition questions may be raised, if lost it may be seen as a lack of faith in its own [Westinghouse] technology' and finally the record of UK governments building nuclear plants is a commercial disaster.
The acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company for $5.4bn was completed on October 16, 2006, with Toshiba obtaining a 77% share, and partners The Shaw Group a 20% share, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. a 3% share. On 13 August 2007 Toshiba sold 10% to Kazatomprom, the national uranium company for the Republic of Kazakhstan, for US$540 million. Kazatomprom's ownership is entirely passive, with no voting or veto rights or even a presence on the board of directors.
Customer 1st
In 2003 Westinghouse set out to creat a company wide initiative called to change the way the company does business from the inside out. The program is designed around four basic pillars of performance.
- Lean Manufacturing - A Toyota based system that aims to reduce waste.
- Six Sigma - A Motorola based system that aims to reduce errors in production.
- Human Performance - A nuclear industry approach to reducing the frequency and severity of errors by removing error precursors and setting up barriers to error.
- Behavioral Differentiation - A method of changing behavior by changing the drives of those behaviors in order to differentiate ones self from a group.
This long term program is designed to both improve the product the company creates and improve its relationship with those it serves.
Moving to Cranberry Township
After a long period of waiting, Westinghouse finally decided to move its world headquarters from the Energy Center in Monroeville, PA, to Cranberry Woods in
Cranberry Township, Butler County, PA. This action was reported in a memo that stated the main reason was due to rapid expansion in the global nuclear industry. The move is expected to begin in early 2009 and complete by end-of-year 2010; construction began in July 2007.
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