Machine manufacturer Boessenkool has won a particularly large order. The Almelo-based company will supply vacuum tubes to the Swiss research institute CERN.
In a press release, Boessenkool's parent company, the Osse Group, proudly announces that CERN in Geneva - known worldwide for the LHC, the world's most powerful particle accelerator - is outsourcing its largest order ever for the Dutch industry to machine factory Boessenkool in Almelo. For Boessenkool, this prestigious order of over 2 million euros means the largest order in its 117-year existence. It concerns the delivery of almost 335 metres of 'vacuum vessels', or vacuum tubes, for the LHC.
The order is described even more precisely in the message: "it concerns the production of 38 vacuum vessels of 5 to 12 metres length each, which are suitable for UHV, Ultra High Vacuum. The surfaces and connections of these vacuum vessels have to be machined very precisely to achieve that the electrons are accelerated in an extremely precise straight path and that vacuum density is guaranteed. This order for CERN has a total lead time of 2.5 years."
Milestone
For director-owner Eelco Osse, entrepreneur and innovator pur sang and among other things winner of the Prins Friso Ingenieurs public award 2019, this order means a lot: "CERN has been our customer for years and apparently to their satisfaction. For us, this new, major assignment means a milestone that we are extremely proud of. Because it is quite something to make a significant contribution to research into the smallest particles on earth for this leading scientific institute. It shows again that we are capable of a lot and that is of course due to the high level of craftsmanship of the employees at Boessenkool. Their knowledge, experience and certainly also guts are indispensable to win and carry out assignments like this."
One such employee of the Almelo machine factory is Project Manager Ing. Jasper Brugman, who is also very happy about this order. From the moment the application became known, in November 2016, Brugman, who is in charge of this project, and his colleagues have been working for months to prepare for this complex tender. "And then, of course, it's a celebration when you actually get the contract awarded," he says. "It is a real challenge, in which all the disciplines of Boessenkool are addressed and come into their own; from certified welding, extremely precise large machining to machine construction and finally Ultra High Vacuum leak testing."
About CERN
CERN, located in Geneva, is a research institute where groundbreaking scientific research is conducted into the smallest particles on earth. The so-called LHC, the Large Hydron Collider, was built for this purpose. This particle accelerator is 100 metres underground and measures 27 kilometres in circumference. In this collider, particles, for example electrons, are brought to collision at very high speed by superconductivity and near absolute zero (1.6 Kelvin). This creates even smaller particles in the collider by fission, which also releases a lot of energy. Through research on the effects of such a collision, highly specialised new knowledge is gained and groundbreaking new technologies are discovered and developed.
Source: Osse Group
