​South Carolina Company Sees Safer, Faster Work With Robotic Tube Cleaners

The AutoBox ABX-PRO (ProDrive) robotic lance-cleaning system from StoneAge exemplifies the push for more automated equipment that keeps employees out of harm’s way at Thompson Industrial Services. The company owns a large fleet of the machines, which are used to clean tubes in heat exchangers in refineries, paper mills and petrochemical plants. They’re also used to clean evaporators, mostly in paper mills, says Chris Meldrim, director of automation and outage management at the company, headquartered in Sumter, South Carolina.The remote-controlled ProDrive hose tractor eliminates the need for manual lancing. The ProDrives are used with either a ProPositioner or XY Positioner from