Repairing steam turbines is all about speed and precision. The stakes are high, customers in the oil, gas and power-generation business may be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a day if a key piece of turbomachinery is down.

There are almost never any drawings to go by, at least not for independent repair firms like Hickham Industries. Consequently, Hickham’s people have become expert in the fine art of reverse engineering. No surprise, given the technical and businesses risks inherent in repairing machinery that weighs several tons and operates at high speeds.

The work starts with careful measurement with a bevy of portable coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) to establish nominal dimensions. The arms are used mostly on casings, shafts, shaft supports, discs, diaphragms and bladed turbine wheels, plus centrifugal impellers for turbine-driven compressors.