Additive Manufacturing (AM) Director, Conrad Kao, explains his vision for Howco’s first AM Facility being built out in Houston, Texas, USA

I joined Howco in October 2019 to develop Howco’s AM capability. Building and developing a new AM manufacturing facility is a great challenge and opportunity to make an impact on Howco’s bottom line. Howco has invested in the best technology to ensure the best chance of success in designing and printing AM components. Howco is focused on being strategically positioned as an end to end strategic partner for its customers.  Additive manufacturing will play an integral part of being able to supply turnkey components to our customers.

My experience at Baker Hughes exposed me to a wide array of applications across all segments of the Upstream Oil and Gas sector. The challenges of introducing new technology in the extreme conditions found in Oil & Gas extraction are significant. Safety and qualification of component solutions is paramount.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) Director, Conrad Kao, explains his vision for Howco’s first AM Facility being built out in Houston, Texas, USA

Our vision is a vertically integrated facility capable of taking a design through the Design For Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) process to a finished, fully qualified component. The facility will be able to take customer designs and develop printing parameters to optimize the performance of the component. This includes scanning, printing, heat treatment, EDM, subtractive machining and qualification approvals. We will be working towards being certified to ISO 9001 and UL3400 accreditation over the coming months to ensure safe working practices.

Howco recognizes the need for our customers to have a digital inventory of their existing components.  To support this need, we have invested in the latest scanning technology for reverse engineering components. We’ve paired this scanner with state of the art software to create parametric models for our customers.  This means we can reverse engineer spare components or components that are no longer supported.

About Howco:

Howco's worldwide investment in raw materials, manufacturing and processing facilities enables us to provide an outstanding and cost-effective solution to metals and components supply close to your manufacturing site no matter what regional location. Howco is the market leader in the manufacture, supply and management of bespoke metal products for the Oil & Gas industry. We concentrate on ensuring our customers’ supply chains are efficient and effective.

Howco products drive all stages of Upstream, Midstream Downstream and Energy sectors. Howco has significant experience and capability providing ingot/billet, forged and rolled round and flat bar, semi and finish machined components, and complete turnkey assembled packages. Our expertise provides a comprehensive and reliable supply chain partnership.
This enables us to respond rapidly on a world-wide basis to our customers’ requirements for both material and turnkey product solutions.

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Contact:

Conrad Kao Director of AM This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Nick Hartle VP Marketing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.