VIGAN Engineering S.A.

Description

VIGAN Engineering S.A. is a Belgian company created in 1968, part of the Belgian private VAN DE WIELE group, and specialized in the design, manufacturing and commissioning of pneumatic ship unloaders for agri-bulk cargoes, as well as agri-bulk loaders.

With more than 1350 machines sold throughout 100 countries over 50 years, VIGAN is widely recognized as a reliable partner for agri-bulk handling.

Range of equipment:

 VIGAN equipment is individually customized to meet customers’ requirements. It is also suitable for various applications, depending on the cargo, points of discharge and destination of cargo, etc…

• Portable grain pumps: Flexible and efficient tools for handling grain between 100-250 tons/hour;
• Continuous pneumatic barge and NIV ship unloaders: Most efficient and reliable unloader for agri-bulk from 200 to 800 tons/hour for all sizes of vessels, from river barges to ocean-going ships;
• Mechanical ship unloaders “SIMPORTER”: The high capacity and low energy consumption grain unloader from 800 up to 1500 tons/hour from big vessels (Panamax, Cape size) based on the twin-belt technology;
• Continuous ship loaders: From 200 to 2000 tons/hour, for vessels of all dimensions, for agri-bulk cargoes, fertilizers,…

Moreover, VIGAN is offering complete turnkey projects such as Grain Terminals: Previous major projects include SDTV in Djibouti in 2007 and FAP in Karachi in 2010. VIGAN is proud to announce that it has just installed a second important turnkey project in Djibouti for a new grain and fertilizer terminal in Doraleh port.

 VIGAN technology and innovation are focused on reliability and efficiency:

• VIGAN three- or four-stage centrifugal TURBO BLOWER, with direct drive and inverter that reduces power consumption by around 25% in comparison with traditional systems
• VIGAN airlock, 100 % manufactured by VIGAN, with adjustable and replaceable knives ensuring a long lifetime
• VIGAN telescopic piping system, with an unmatched hardness of 700 HB and “unwearable” elbow made of casted Ni-Hard carrying a warranty of 5 million tons.

VIGAN cares about its customers’ environment and customers’ cargo!

The main advantages of the pneumatic unloaders are Efficiency, Reliability and Cost-effectiveness.

Indeed, the VIGAN pneumatic unloaders are offering:

• Most efficient cleaning of the vessel or barge hold
• Low energy consumption: 0.6 -0.8 kW per unloaded ton.
• Very low breakage of the products
• No spillage: totally closed design
• No dust: filter with sleeves and automatic cleaning
• Low noise thanks to acoustic insulation. Noise reduction being also a major concern, special techniques have been developed by VIGAN to comply with the most strict regulations.

Start-to-finish customer service and reliability

From initial drawings up to delivery of tailor-made turnkey installations, VIGAN multi-disciplinary team of experts will support the customer from his project development until its completion. Our project management involvement includes planning, design, engineering, manufacturing and erection of reliable equipment with low operational costs and which are also in line with all safety and environmental requirements.

VIGAN believes in the benefit of controlling the full process from A to Z:

• In R&D team
• In manufacturing, full preassembly, quality control, shipment

Customers require long-term reliability and a strong after-sales service. VIGAN fits those needs: its pneumatic unloaders are reliable for more than 30 years and VIGAN offers a continuous after-sales service. No better reward than receiving a new order from an old existing customer, to increase capacity or to equip another site!

In addition to its team of technicians in Belgium, VIGAN has now set up 4 additional bases with customer support: 4 technicians based in Algiers and Tunis covering the African countries, 4 in Egypt for the Middle East, one in Thailand for the Far East. They are providing very valuable local support to our customers worldwide and ensuring that vessels are always being unloaded.

At the end of April this year, VIGAN celebrated its 50th anniversary!

It was also the opportunity to inaugurate the new big assembly hall of the company, adding not less than 2000 m² to its existing 10.000 m² factory in Nivelles.

A complete pre-assembly of all ship unloaders and loaders is essential to guarantee quality and to prepare the future commissioning of the equipment at the customer site. VIGAN confirms its strategy of controlling the value chain from A to Z in its own facility by its own qualified and experienced workforce: engineering, manufacturing, pre-assembly and testing, erection and commissioning, and finally after-sales support.

The lifting capacity of up to 50 tons recently added to VIGAN factory will allow the erection of ever bigger machines.