Inspection services from Bilfinger SE - digital twins and drones in refinery maintenance

Reviewed: ad hoc news Bestseller & Flagship desk. Edited and checked on 2026-06-22, 13:27. Details in the imprint.

Inspection services from Bilfinger SE start where the steel of a distillation column creaks and the scaffolding smells faintly of solvent and hot metal. Inspectors in flame-retardant overalls point tablets at pipes, while a small drone buzzes along weld seams several meters above the ground.

What Bilfinger inspects on site

Bilfinger markets its industrial inspection services as a core part of its Maintenance, Modifications & Operations segment for process industries such as oil and gas, chemicals and energy. Inspectors check pressure vessels, pipelines, storage tanks and structural steel to meet legal and insurance requirements. Regular inspection intervals reduce unplanned shutdowns and safety incidents at large plants, according to the company’s service descriptions.

Depending on the customer and plant, teams use visual inspection, ultrasonic testing, radiography, magnetic particle testing and dye penetrant methods to detect corrosion, cracks or wall-thickness loss. In refineries and chemical parks this work usually takes place in turnarounds, when entire production lines stand still for days or weeks.

Digital twins and drones

Bilfinger has expanded these classic inspection services with digital tools, including 3D plant scans and digital twins that bundle findings in a navigable model. Customers can click through their equipment on screen and see which pipe supports or nozzles need repair, instead of searching through paper reports. This makes follow-up work orders easier to prioritize and track.

For areas that are difficult or risky to access, such as flare stacks or tall storage tanks, Bilfinger uses drone-based visual inspection combined with high-resolution cameras. This reduces the time staff spend working at height and can shorten outages, because temporary scaffolding is needed less often. The footage is stored and compared between campaigns, giving operators a timeline of how defects develop.

How the service feels in practice

When Bilfinger inspection manager Christina Johansson walks a site with a client, the first stop is often a corroded pipe rack where insulation hangs open and rust flakes under her gloves. She marks the spots on a tablet; minutes later the damage appears in the digital model of the plant. For plant engineers this is more concrete than a stack of PDF reports.

The company also offers rope-access inspection teams that hang on lines from towers and boiler walls when drones or scaffolding are not practical. Customers report that this approach reduces preparation time and lets them carry out targeted repairs within the same shutdown window. On petrochemical sites, fewer days offline can quickly add up to millions in avoided lost production.

Where inspection adds value

Bilfinger positions its inspection services as part of integrated maintenance contracts, which can include planning, execution and documentation from one provider. According to the group, this reduces interfaces and helps operators demonstrate compliance with pressure equipment and occupational safety regulations. In Europe the service focuses on Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and the UK, where Bilfinger runs dense site networks.

Outside Europe, the company highlights inspection and maintenance support for energy and process-industry projects in the Middle East and North America. Customers there often use Bilfinger for both new-build projects and ongoing operations, which makes inspection data useful throughout the life cycle of a plant.

Context and share reference

Bilfinger, headquartered in Mannheim, has sharpened its portfolio in recent years around industrial services, with inspection and maintenance forming a recurring revenue base. On 2026-06-22 Bilfinger shares (ISIN DE0005201602) trade on Xetra in euros, giving investors direct exposure to this project-driven service business.

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