More

    FMC Technologies

    FMC Corp. history, profile and corporate video

     FMC Corp. is a diversified chemical company, which serves agricultural, consumer and industrial markets globally with innovative solutions, applications and market-leading products. The company operates its business through the following segments: Agricultural Products, Specialty Chemicals and Industrial Chemicals. The Agricultural Products segment develops, markets and sells all three major classes of crop protection chemicals: insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. These products are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a broad spectrum of insects, weeds and disease, as well as pest control in non-agricultural markets. The Specialty Chemicals segment consists of its BioPolymer and lithium businesses. This segment focuses on food ingredients that are used to enhance texture, color, structure and physical stability, pharmaceutical additives for binding, encapsulation and disintegrant applications, ultrapure biopolymers for medical devices and lithium for energy storage, specialty polymers and pharmaceutical synthesis in industrial uses. The Industrial Chemicals segment manufactures a wide range of inorganic materials, including soda ash, hydrogen peroxide, specialty peroxygens and silicates. This segment serves a diverse group of markets, from economically-sensitive industrial sectors to technology-intensive specialty markets. This segment primarily participates in the following markets: alkali, peroxygens and environmental solutions. The company was founded by John Bean in 1883 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA.

    “FMC Technologies History

    In August 1927, brothers Arthur and Kirby Pennick of Houston founded Oil Center Tool (O-C-T) to produce pump liners and rods for the oilfields of East Texas. In 1930, O-C-T introduced a new type of casing head and tubing head that was an immediate success. Shortly there after the company introduced the first factory-assembled and tested completion wellheads (a.k.a. “Christmas trees” in oil field slang). At the time, Christmas trees were assembled and tested on-site: an expensive, time consuming, and dangerous practice.

    In 1956, two brothers Paulo and Antonio Viana, both commanders in the Brazilian Navy with experience in the Naval ship yard, went into private business together founding Mecanica CBV. CBV stood for the initials of their father’s name Carlos Barbosa Viana. Their first customer was the National Motor Factory (FNM) for whom they manufactured wheels, axles, and crossheads.

    In 1957, FMC Corp (Food, Machinery, and Chemicals), a growing conglomerate with its roots in the manufacture of spray pumps for California’s orchards, acquired OCT. They had already added other brands like WECO and Chiksan to their growing portfolio of oil field related machinery businesses.

    In 1961, the president of OCT, Al Wolf, was in Brazil looking for a company to manufacture OCT products under license for the Brazilian market. While visiting Petrobras, he asked if they know of any potential candidates. CBV was among those recommended. He showed up at CBV unannounced around 7pm and found Commander Paulo and Antonio still at the plant. He showed the brothers an OCT product catalog (the first time they had seen a wellhead or Christmas tree) and signed a licensing agreement on the spot.

    In 1967, Placid awarded OCT its first subsea project at Ship Shoal Block 204 in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1971, OCT undertook for Placid what was then the world’s largest subsea development at Eugene Island Block 296 in the GoM. These early subsea projects were installed in shallow waters (EI296 was at 200 ft) using modified surface Christmas tree technology.

    In 1973, OCT was renamed as FMC’s Wellhead Equipment Division.

    In 1975, FMC’s Wellhead Equipment division expanded internationally, establishing manufacturing facilities in Dunfermline Scotland and Singapore.

    In 1974, CBV pioneered the development of deepwater oil field technology in the Garoupa field of the Campos Basin using dry Christmas trees inside Lockheed-supplied pressure chambers.

    In 1977, CBV delivered their first wet deepwater Christmas tree. Soon, CBV was producing diverless wet Christmas trees for ultra deep applications.

    - Advertisement -

    In 1980, FMC Corp made its first investments in deepwater subsea oil field technology. Previously they had concentrated on surface and shallow water applications.

    In 1993, FMC Corp purchased Kongsberg Offshore from Siemens, making FMC the world’s largest subsea engineering, procurement, and construction company. In 1998, FMC acquired a controlling interest in CBV.

    In 2001, FMC Technologies was spun off from FMC Corp., taking with it the Energy Production, Food Tech, and Airport Systems divisions of FMC’s machinery business.

    On April 30, 2008, FMC Technologies announced the spinoff of its airport and food equipment businesses into a separate company named John Bean Technologies Corporation,JBT Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. JBT is named after the spray pump inventor whose business was the foundation of FMC Corp.

    On October 20, 2009, the Company acquired Multi Phase Meters AS, and on November 2, 2009, acquired Direct Drive Systems, Inc.

    In July 2010, the name of the employee credit union was finally changed from OCT Federal Credit Union to FMC Technologies Federal Credit Union.

    On October 1, 2012, the company acquired Pure Energy Services.

    *Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org

    **Video published on YouTube by “Anderson Process

    Advertisment

    Advertisment

    Related videos

    Advertisment

    Advertisment