Pittsburgh Corning celebrated the opening of its new multi-purpose 375m2 training centre at Tessenderlo, Belgium, by inviting our European FOAMGLAS® insulation specialists to try for themselves the extensive range of pipework rigs and vessels.

Pipe rigs are available from 4in to 24in including bends, T pieces, reducers and flanges, to enable a full simulation of what can be found on a critical job site. Vessels up to 1.5m diameter are also available. In addition there is the possibility to work on cryogenic pipes, one of the most challenging end-use applications, to experience first-hand the installation of high-performance insulation live at extremely-cold temperatures.

The FOAMGLAS® insulation team was able to experience the differences between working with traditional lags on large pipes and working with fully prefabricated fittings including large prefab T pieces, pre-coated in the innovative time-saving Terostat polymer. The time savings and installed-quality improvements were quickly seen in virtually every case.

Pittsburgh Corning’s vision in opening this facility is that our customers will be able to personally see for themselves the labour and handling savings when installing advanced FOAMGLAS insulation systems compared with more traditional methods and other systems such as wool, PIR, etc.

Frank Ergeerts, director of sales for the European, Middle East, and Africa Regions said, "Technical innovation in our industry is directed toward cost savings on the surface. We are driving toward those same results. The training centre is offered to our customers as a resource where they can acquire additional training to complement the established facilities provided by organisations such as TICA, as well as to showcase their skills for particular applications to their customers."

Mike Powell, site engineer for Pittsburgh Corning UK added, "Our clients are always looking to us for more training, either at our factories or onsite. We want to be able to give them everything they need to successfully complete their projects with our products."