Voith Digital Solutions, Inc. and Turbine Technology Services (TTS) recently joined forces to add an actuator, governor and turbomachinery test stand at the TTS facility in Houston, the hub of the U.S. oil and gas industry. This new workshop allows for the convenient support and service the industry expects from its actuator suppliers.

The test stand has been up-and-running for over a month, explained Thad Berry, sales account manager, Voith Digital Solutions, Inc. 

“We’ve had people knocking on our door since day one,” Berry said. “Having a local, certified team of trained technicians means a lot to our Houston customers. They want a local support network that understands the actuators and their applications with the proper equipment, tools and expertise to perform critical maintenance and emergency repairs.”

The Houston test stand is essentially about creating convenience for Voith’s customers, Berry added. 

“Actuators can be delivered directly from the field to Voith – reducing the workload and time involved with shipping. That, in turn, means that repairs and maintenance can be completed faster, allowing for shorter outages,” Berry said. 

Customers also have immediate access to Voith’s dedicated actuator team, which offers unrivaled expertise and service ability. Further, since Voith actuators are often embedded in products created by other companies, and the Houston location allows for direct assistance in the field. 

The test stand is more than an OEM repair shop. It has all the needed diagnostic and testing equipment to optimize actuators for field use. The test stand is also available for customer training, saving the expense of sending Houston-area employees across the country for instructional time. 

Prior to the installation of the test stand inside TTS, Voith asked its customers to ship actuators to its turbo facility in Pennsylvania. This inconvenience is no longer an issue though, as Voith Digital Solutions can now match the support it offered there and the services offered by other manufacturers who already have service shops in the Houston area.

“We loved the idea of bringing Voith into our shop,” said Frank Hoegler, TTS vice president. “This partnership provides us the opportunity for a closer relationship with Voith and its Houston-area customers. What’s great is that TTS doesn’t compete with Voith, but we share a lot of mutual clients, so it’s a win-win situation for us and our customers.”

Voith’s actuators offer a variety of advantages and benefits to the oil and gas industry including: the use of Voith actuators reduce the overall complexity of a control system, resulting in increased reliability and online time for oil and gas facilities; actuators offer outstanding control speed and precision, which provides stable processes that deliver high quality for oil and gas products; Voith has certified technicians located in all the key market areas, which boosts the company’s readiness to repair, refurbish and service actuators while minimizing potential customer downtime.