NobelClad has just passed a milestone; therefore, we would like to celebrate and share that achievement with you.  In 2016, NobelClad celebrates 50 years of helping our clients deliver successful projects through our expertise in the explosion welding and forming industries. The business has come a long way since its 1965 inception as EF Industries – a diverse industrial business based outside Boulder, Colorado.  The late 1960s was an exciting time for the nascent explosion welding industry, and we were committed to mastering the process and applying it to a range of innovative industrial applications.

In 1976, our name changed to Explosive Fabricators and became a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol “BOOM”.

In 1994, we became Dynamic Materials Corporation, and two years later purchased the Detaclad® trademark of another industry pioneer, DuPont. We also assumed the lease on DuPont’s Dunbar Mine, a former limestone mine in southwestern Pennsylvania that was converted into a unique explosion welding shooting facility. The Dunbar transaction represented a major achievement in positioning us for future growth.  In addition to providing a controlled environment for detonations, the mine was close to regional metals suppliers and fabricators, and provided improved access to domestic and international shipping ports.

In 2001, we acquired French explosion welding business Nobelclad, and in 2007 purchased Germany-based Dynaplat  These acquisitions enhanced our technical expertise, expanded our production capacity and established our company as the global leader in explosion welding.  In 2013, we unified all of our worldwide cladding businesses under the NobelClad brand.

Still headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, we currently operate explosion welding facilities in Germany, France and the US, with worldwide sales and distribution.

We look forward to sharing more stories about our people and accomplishments throughout our anniversary year.

Stéphane Pauly joined NobelClad in the R&D department in July 2000.  A graduate of Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tarbes with a focus on production management, mechanical and materials science, Stéphane has a technical and business background.  Further, he is certified as a Welding Engineer by the French Institut de Soudure in 2004.  

His first assignments were in extending the capabilities of the explosion welding process and fine tuning the manufacturing techniques used in the company.  His experience with the explosion welding technology made him a logical choice to develop new business for NobelClad starting in 2009.  More recently, Stéphane was appointed the Director of Sales in Europe and leads the commercial team including our agents and representatives in the important regions of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India and South East Asia.  He is a great example of the strong technical background that many of our commercial team have. We always think of ourselves as consultants and not just sales people of clad metal. 

Stéphane is the proud father of two children and spends his free time exercising, including practicing boxing and skiing.

We produce clad for global projects, big and small.  We are proud to work with our fabricator customers on some of the most important capital and maintenance projects in the world.  We would like to recognize our top ten customers in 2015:

1. Archer Daniels Midland, USA

2. Exterran, UAE

3. Hantech, Korea

4. Alpec, Korea

5. Cembell, USA

6. Cust O Fab, USA

7. YPF, Argentina

8. Felguera, Spain

9. Ohmstede, USA

10. Brighton/Enerfab, USA

We look forward to working with you again in 2016.

A culture of safety is critical in all industrial and manufacturing environments.  For NobelClad, a business dealing in heavy metal plates and explosives, safety is even more important to us. We want to ensure each member of our NobelClad team at any one of our global facilities returns home to their families.

In a continuous effort to improve our safety practices, the NobelClad manufacturing division in Mount Braddock received the Occupational Health & Safety Management System to OHSAS 18001:2007 certification in August 2014 from Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance. Jaison Kenney, Human Resources/Health Safety & Environmental Manager at Mount Braddock, spearheaded the certification process with the assistance of Gene Huth of the facility’s Quality Department.  “We’re very pleased and excited because this is a brand new certification for us,” Kenney said. “We already had safety policies, procedures and teams in place at Mount Braddock. This new certification does mandate that health and safety requirements are met.”

Key areas assessed by OHSAS certification include management systems; planning and risk assessment; staff training and awareness; communication of safety management systems; response to emergency situations; and monitoring and continual improvement, according to Kenney.

The July 2007 update to the OHSAS 18001 specification more closely aligns with the structure of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9000 and ISO 1400 so that organizations could more easily adopt OHSAS 18001 alongside existing management systems. Additionally, the “health” component of health and safety was given greater emphasis.  “We already had the ISO 9001 quality management system in place at our facility,” Kenney said. “We decided to embark on the safety portion of our management system. We believe it is a big improvement because our quality and safety systems are now under one umbrella. We have combined the two systems so it will be easier for assessments and audits to be conducted in the future.”

Kenney explained that both systems are very important in today’s clad metal manufacturing market because customers value the certifications.  “Many customers request information on the safety and safe practices of our facilities,” he said. “The new certification will give our customers greater confidence in our safety management system.

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Clad from Stock plates: 4-6 weeks

Clad from Mill plates: 14-16 weeks

Add 6-8 weeks for head forming

Almost all projects are custom. Consult your sales representative for the anticipated delivery for your project.