Muharraq Engineering Services (MES) reports it exported recently to Dammam a heavy machine for straightening pipes and shafts.

The machine, branded King Hydra Press 500 and manufactured at its Mina Salman Industrial Estate factory, was ordered by Smith International Services which is engaged in the Gulf's oil and gas sector, MES said.

"The equipment is used for straightening pipes and shafts that bend during drilling for oil, and for straightening the booms of cranes or ships' propellers, among other things," said MES managing director Ebrahim Engineer.

According to Ebrahim, MES manufactured many years ago a similar machine designed by Ebrahim's father, Ahmed Engineer, who is chairman and proprietor of Muharraq Engineering Group. MES is one of the companies in the group, the others being Amsco Engineering Stores, Muharraq Engineering Company and Engineer Marine Services.

The King Hydra Press machine, ordered by Smith International, was made of mild steel, weighs 16 tonnes and has a pressing capacity of 500 tonnes while the existing one at Muharraq has a lower pressing capacity.

Smith International has ordered a second machine of the same specifications for its operations in Kuwait.

MES, an ISO 9002-certified company, has diversified into manufacturing while maintaining its reputation for light and heavy machine shop services, structural steel fabrication, thermal spray metalising and the servicing and calibration of diesel fuel injection pumps and injectors.

The company specialises in the manufacture of gears such as spur gears in various shapes, work gears and timing gears (belt type) as well as worm wheels and chain sprockets.

It also manufactures plastic and fibreglass moulds, rubber moulds, aluminium extrusion dies, electrical junction boxes, emblem dies, plastic blow moulds and the most common types of dies of any size and shape.

"We manufacture and supply about half of the parts used by Bahrain's major industries for machinery component replacements," said Ebrahim, adding buyers enjoy cost and delivery benefits if they decide to call in MES rather than import.

The company has fabricated garbage skips, elbows of various sizes, storage tanks, sleeves and concentric cones and manufactured spool pipes and machines, screws, nuts and shafts, multipurpose pulleys, quick release gun mounts, aluminium pot hoods and trolleys, boring machines, sand pump impellers, steam water separators, high-pressure tanks, shearing machines, blower chests, cement skips and vibrator screen assemblies, among other things. It has reconditioned hydraulic cylinder and piston shafts and modified for a foreign navy a ship rudder assembly.

The company carries out straightening of all kinds of drill collars, pipes and kellys up to 10-inch diameter along with drill collar multibends and Monel drill collar multibends of any length.

Other work carried out in the machine shop includes the machining of threads of drill collars, subs and stabilisers with hob cut threads. Some of MES' major clients are Bapco, Banaco, Alba, Asry, GPIC, Garmco, GIIC, Basrec, Balexco and several Bahraini government ministries.

The company is licensed by Drilco (US) to repair oil and gas drilling equipment and has a contract with Banaco to do repairs for their drilling rigs such as re-threading of drill pipes, drill collars, stabilisers and drill bits and all types of connections related to drilling onshore and offshore as per API standards.

The company has also successfully carried out repairs on power station turbine components.

Chairman Ahmed has himself designed and developed special equipment for manufacture at MES facilities. These include the hydraulic dishing press, a straightening press, an overhead motorised travelling crane of single and double girder type and capacity of three to 20 tonnes, a hydraulic press, concentric cones, bushing, a pipe bending machine, a hydraulic tension system, a dredger sand pump assembly, water pumps and hydraulic press brakes.

Ahmed joined Bapco after technical training. During the 1940s he started a small freelance contracting business to undertake diesel engine repairs and marine work. It was the forerunner of the machine workshop (MES) he started in 1964 and several other engineering companies located in the Mina Salman industrial area and South Alba (Ra's Zuwaiyyid).

He trained scores of Bahraini youths, some of whom moved on to serving in prestigious heavy engineering companies in the Gulf.