About Us
EGKENN Vacuum Technology sp. z o.o. builds upon the engineering heritage of the former UK-based company NTE Vacuum Technology, continuing its legacy of excellence in high-precision vacuum engineering.
EGKENN was founded in 2020 by Tomasz Rak, a former NTE engineer with over 13 years of continuous hands-on experience gained at NTE. The company operates with the direct support and knowledge transfer of NTE’s retired owner and former Managing Director, Eric Kennedy, ensuring continuity of expertise, standards, and engineering philosophy.
During its time as NTE Vacuum Technology, the team developed a unique and highly specialised skill set that established the company as a trusted supplier to some of the world’s most advanced research and technology organisations, including CERN, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.
Our core competence lies in the design and manufacture of high-precision vacuum housings, vessels, and fabricated structures for demanding scientific and industrial applications. Past projects include components for world-class instruments and facilities such as ALMA Observatory, LIGO, KMOS, and SCUBA-2 - a highly specialised sub-millimetre astronomy camera.
Such projects require exceptional dimensional accuracy, structural stability, and suitability for ultra-high vacuum and cryogenic environments. Success in these applications has been driven by advanced design capability, deep expertise in precision welding, and the use of highly rigid, high-accuracy machine tools.
While stainless steel is commonly associated with vacuum chambers, aluminium offers critical advantages in certain applications. Its low mass - approximately one third that of stainless steel - is essential for large telescope-mounted systems in locations such as Hawaii and Chile. In nuclear and particle physics environments, aluminium’s short radioactive half-life (approximately 24 hours) provides a significant advantage over stainless steel, which can remain activated for tens of thousands of years.
One of EGKENN’s key specialisations is the manufacture of large, medium, and small aluminium vacuum chambers and vessels to ultra-high vacuum standards. Aluminium welding for vacuum applications is considerably more demanding than stainless steel welding and requires distinct techniques, experience, and process control.
This expertise originates from landmark projects such as the manufacture of aluminium vacuum chambers for the ALEPH detector at CERN in the 1980s, where NTE secured the contract against strong European competition. These chambers, with wall thicknesses as low as 6 mm and clearances of just 3 mm, required near-perfect weld quality and minimal distortion - lessons that continue to inform EGKENN’s engineering approach today.
EGKENN Vacuum Technology combines proven heritage with modern manufacturing capability, offering reliable, high-performance vacuum solutions for the most demanding scientific and industrial applications.