We have interviewed the engineer Alejandro Batakis, president of MGC, leading company in power boilers to burn gas and oil and boilers for biomass, and we talked about the present of the company and the Argentine energy market.
Reaching 85 years for a company in the Argentine industrial field is an achievement, almost a feat. This is the case of Mellor Goodwin company, MGC, or simply Mellor, as it is called by its managers. It is a leading company that provides its customers with integrated solutions in terms of design, assembling and maintenance of industrial plants for the sugar, energy and petrochemical industries.
Its origin dates back to 1934, when two English pioneers, Mellor and Goodwin, founded the company which was initially dedicated to the design, manufacture and assembly of boilers. The main objective was the supply of the mills that operated in the booming Argentine sugar market at that time.
Like any other Argentine company, it went through the fluctuations of the economy and national politics along the twentieth century. After some years of having been closed, in 2005 MGC re-launched it activities and it currently has a highly trained professional staff, a state-of-the-art technological platform and human, physical and financial resources suitable for a highly demanding and competitive market. During an interview with Energia en Movimiento, the engineer Alejandro Batakis, president of Mellor Goodwin Combustion, makes an analysis of the current situation of the company and the Argentine energy market and talks about its projects for the near future.
Mellor Goodwin Combustion restarted its activities in 2005, after having been closed for some years. How was this re-start?
Hard, because although the name had not disappeared, we had to persuade the companies that we dealt with the same standards of technical excellence and quality as in the previous Mellor. Anyway, the answer was highly positive and we were able to reintegrate into the market pretty fast.
Have you introduced more products recently?
The products remain the same. The point is that they are being updated and this demands a constant study to keep up with the new techniques. But, we have incorporated a great capacity to make the assemblies of these pieces of equipment with our own technology and equipment. We do the works without practically outsourcing anything.
What kind of products do you offer to the hydrocarbon and energy market?
As for the gas and oil market, we should notice two areas: the Downstream (refineries and petrochemicals) in which we design and manufacture process furnaces, conventional and recovery boilers, and incinerators and reformers. With proprietary programmes we also carry out extensions of useful life of the pìeces of equipment previously mentioned. The other area is the Upstream, in which we design and manufacture heating furnaces, gas and oil heaters, separators and freewater knockauts. As in the previous area, we also carry out useful life extensions of these pieces of equipment.
Are these pieces of equipment of your own design or do they have a model license from foreign companies?
All the equipment we produce is of our own engineering, except for the reformers in their part of the process.
Which one do you think is “the star product” of Mellor?
We stand out in power boilers to burn gas and oil and in boilers for biomass (Mellor has great experience in boilers run on bagasse) as well as in the heating and process furnaces.
What stages of work do you cover?
In general, we operate in all the stages of a project, but we feel most comfortable when dealing with turn-key projects, that is, those projects in which we carry out the complete project and deliver it to the client already in operation.
A company like Mellor demands having a high trained professional staff. Does Argentina have human capital to meet these requirements?
Of course. Our country has a large number of highly trained professionals and, particularly in Mellor there are engineers and technicians that handle with solvency all the special subject area that make up the projects we undertake.
You have done works throughout the country. How do you organize to be able to provide this national coverage?
We have a highly specialized team and our own equipment, but in each place where our works are carried out, we try to take on local staff. In this way, we are enlarging our staff with professionals and technicians from all over the country.
What is the current state of the energy sector?
The energy sector has grown enormously. Besides, the incorporation of non-conventional energy has turned conventional energy generation into something more rational and clean. It is expected that this will not stop, and that small power units will go on being incorporated for the sake of the country and the environment.
What was Vaca Muerta‘s development impact like in Mellor’s area?
At the moment, we are not participating in this project but it is an unfinished business. We have thought about entering this project once we had our own heavy manufacture workshop.
What future projects are you facing?
Our aim is to go on improving our engineering, both in design and manufacture and assembly, to be prepared to deal with all the generation projects that are just around the corner. And of course, try to move faster in the construction of our new manufacturing plant in the Industrial Pole of Ezeiza.
