Testing Company Acquisition Will Expand TÜV Rheinland Services

TÜV Rheinland, with its regional offices in Newtown, recently announce the strategic acquisition of Unified Testing Services (UTS) by the TÜV Rheinland Group. According to company officials, the move will provide added expertise, geographic expansion of coverage, and an increase of service portfolio offerings.

Stephan Schmitt, president and CEO of TUV Rheinland of North America, said the acquisition enhances his company’s ability to serve additional segments in different industries that are not currently served in North America.

“Previously we had offered our services in this industry segment for export to the rest of the world,” Mr Schmitt said in a release. “Now we can offer these services for the North American market... Having this significant local expertise will complement our global proficiencies and provide a better network that will benefit local customers.”

TÜV Rheinland currently serves many industry sectors and markets worldwide. The UTS client base includes many diverse groups, including state departments of transportation, universities, banking and real estate institutions, paper and steel mills, power plants, fabrication and machine shops, automobile industry suppliers, industrial equipment suppliers, steel fabrication shops, amusement/theme parks, and state and local governments.

UTS has expertise in a wide variety of testing and inspection services focused on materials, construction, transportation, facilities, and environmental engineering. Overall, services include environmental consulting and testing, destructive and nondestructive materials testing, and shop fabrication inspection of structural steel bridges.

In the environmental arena, UTS provides quality, cost-effective environmental and testing services that include testing, sampling, and analysis of paints for lead concentration, as well as assessment and observation of lead-based paint. The staff is trained in a full range of asbestos identification and management services consisting of facility surveys and assessments, abatement design, abatement monitoring, and laboratory analysis.

A full range of environmental site assessment services ranging from “due diligence” assessments for real property transactions to sampling and testing can be offered. UTS also has the capability to provide indoor air quality testing and assessment (covering both airborne and microbiological contaminant sampling and analysis), underground — and above ground — storage tank assessment and management, and management and stormwater permitting.

UTS can greatly aid production part inspection needs with computed radiography in addition to other nondestructive testing (NDT) methodologies: visual, ultrasonic, magnetic particle, and liquid penetrant inspections to any code or specification. This wide range of NDT techniques and procedures supports clients in an industrial atmosphere including “outage-type” situations.

Services include annual boiler inspections, critical piping and pressure vessel inspections, or mechanical integrity verification. Personnel have experience working with pulp and paper, power plants, chemical refineries and bulk storage facilities. A full service lab is located near many automotive manufacturers, as well as providing support industry for defense contractors.

The addition of UTS extends the geographic reach of TUV Rheinland of North America. Locations now include Boston, Rochester, N.Y., Newtown, Raleigh, N.C., Birmingham, Ala., Orlando, Ore., Detroit, Chicago, Austin and Houston, Texas, San Diego, San Francisco, and Portland; the Mexican cities of Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City, as well as Toronto, Canada.