John Thompson has been trading since the earliest part of the 20th century and has a long heritage of boiler design and manufacturing. Naturally, over the decades it has diversified into a range of products and sectors – including industrial watertube boilers.
There are two types of boiler in the industry; firetube, where a shell has pipes filled with inflamed gas running through the inside of the boiler, or watertube, where pipes filled with water are warmed from the outside by an exterior furnace to generate steam. The latter, which John Thompson Industrial Watertube Boilers specialises in, allows for much higher pressures.
Developing Tried and Tested Tech
The company has been around long enough to see a lot of things change, but some things have stayed the same.
“If you look at any other industry over that period of time, you would expect to see major technological breakthroughs and game changers,” says Schalk Van der Merwe, Managing Director of John Thompson Industrial Watertube Boilers. “We have not seen that in steam. The boilers in the 1900s work essentially the same way that they do today.”
That is not to say that the technology has not been refined and improved. Van der Merwe tells us that in the 70s and 80s, John Thompson’s Watertube Boilers generated around 20 bars of pressure to serve the sugar industry. By the mid-80s, the firm had moved into the pulp and paper industry, as well as the metal processing industry where smelters had their own requirements. This saw the pressure levels rise to 31 bars.
“These days we set the industry standard between 45 and 67 bars,” says Van der Merwe. “That equips us to meet the needs of the sugar industry, as well as the pulp and paper industry that can take us quite a bit higher.”
Every iteration of the industrial watertube boiler has had integral advantages for the industries that deploy it.
“It spans the gap between food processing, utilities, and all the industrial users in that segment,” says Van der Merwe. “The steel industry relies on industrial watertube boilers, allowing them to generate their own power and even export some of that power to the grid.”
Working with such a well-established technology also comes with challenges.
“On a regular basis, we have to ask ourselves what sets us apart from the competition, because the longer we have been in the industry the more competition there is,” Van der Merwe.
As Van der Merwe points out, there is fierce competition over price. So while the technology watertube boilers are based on is well established, it is also the best place for John Thompson to differentiate itself.
“We are extremely customer-focused and customer-driven,” Van der Merwe says. “We work with the client as a trusted partner, engineering anything they need in terms of boiler customisation and service offerings.”
This is made possible by John Thompson’s strong engineering complement who are experienced at interfacing with and exceeding client expectations.
“We use and advance design methods that are second to one,” Van der Merwe explains.
This relationship between tradition and competition means that as long-established as watertube boiler technology is, John Thompson is still finding places to advance the field.
“It means crafting a completely new outlook, one that is different from what anyone else offers,” says Van der Merwe.
This has driven the business to go to places that you might not expect a boiler manufacturer to go to. John Thompson’s research and development team have been looking at IR 4.0 and ways to incorporate AI into its boiler control systems.
“We are bridging the gap between physics and the modelling of the boiler by creating a digital twin so that operators can better understand what is happening inside,” Van der Merwe tells us. “Where we are really strong is in creating a customised interface for the client. You can reliably pull data from a digital twin and use it to evaluate boiler performance based on what is currently happening in the boiler in real-time.”
These advances are not just about widening John Thompson’s product offering, they mark a pivot in the company’s approach as it moves towards turnkey solutions. The firm is establishing EPC offerings, warranties, and guarantees alongside the products it develops and brings to market.
But while John Thompson is focusing on its technology and its service, it has not ignored the pricing side of things either.
“Being based in South Africa means that our labour is not expensive, but as with any developing country, the cost is creeping up,” Van der Merwe points out. “We have had to build strategic partnerships across the world to offer cost-effective solutions.”
An Extended Guarantee
John Thompson Industrial Watertube Boilers continues to look at alternative manufacturing methods, alternative suppliers and ways to seed customer expectations for a turnkey solution supported by warranties and guarantees. 
“Where we are comfortable extending warranties beyond our competition, we have done just that,” Van der Merwe says. “In the past, we have seen a one-year guarantee. Today we are confident enough in our engineering capability to extend that beyond ten years, sometimes even as much 20 years.”
This is how John Thompson has put itself into a leading market position, and it is a position the company intends to continue occupying for a long time to come.
“We have got a niche product offering which we believe nobody else can really come close to,” says Van der Merwe. “The road forward for us is that we want to continuously improve and optimise that product offering.”
Van der Merwe also sees great potential for the company in the renewable markets, solar panels, and vehicle manufacturing.
“There are a lot of markets we have not been active in until now that we believe we can offer a real benefit to,” Van der Merwe concludes. “For instance, we have often said that we are not a consulting firm, but we can see our clients’ need for sound advice. When I look to the future, I see John Thompson continuing to be innovative, continuing our research and development, and ultimately growing the business.”
