TPi January 2012

business & market news

Riser specialist appointed technical director of Magma

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Hatton said, “It is an exciting time to be joining Magma; my experience at 2H and wider industry relationships will give a great foundation to help move the business forward very rapidly. I believe m-pipe offers the potential for a significant improvement in the way we design, manufacture, install and operate critical riser systems. It’s time for us to look to new materials to solve some of the tough challenges the offshore industry faces; materials which will reduce risk and installed cost of riser systems.”

company 2H where, as a director, he has driven the business in riser system and subsea hardware design and analysis. Martin Jones, Magma Global’s CEO, said, “We are delighted that Steve has decided to take on this important role at Magma. We have worked closely with him for several years and have been impressed with his breadth of knowledge, experience and grasp of the positive impact m-pipe will have in solving some of the challenges facing subsea exploration and production. We expect Steve to have a significant influence over our development and delivery of m-pipe, our strategic direction and growth.”

Magma Global Ltd, manufacturer of the m-pipe carbon/polymer pipe for harsh subsea applications, has appointed Steve Hatton as its commercial director. Mr Hatton joins Magma from Acteon Group Ltd, where he was vice president and principal director of its riser engineering company 2H. With almost 30 years’ experience in subsea equipment and riser systems design, he graduated from Newcastle Upon Tyne University and then worked for Vickers Offshore, John Brown and Cameron Offshore Engineering, where he was predominantly involved in the detail design of riser systems and riser EPC contracts. In 1993 he was jointly responsible for setting up the

Magma Global Ltd – UK info@magmaglobal.com www.magmaglobal.com

STINA awards certified producer status The Steel Tube Institute of North America (STINA) has announced that six companies who produce steel tubular products have passed its audit process and earned the right to display the STINA Certified Producer mark on their products. The companies underwent a series of internal audits and product testing to assure their processes, manufacturing procedures and products adhere to ASTM and other recognised manufacturing standards.

Achieving producer certification gives the recipient the right to use STINA’s Producer Certification Mark, not only on its products, but also on its website, annual reports, advertising and marketing materials, company letterhead, signage and emails. A second group of companies are applying for, or are currently going through, the process of certification. Mark Bula, STINA’s HSS director, discussed the programme’s initial goal: “Bill Wolfe and the leadership of STINA set out to establish a higher standard of integrity for the products our industry produces.” Mr Bula went on to discuss how the Producer Certification Program achieves that: “ASTM specifications set the primary standards for our industry. But until now, they have been voluntary standards, and they’ve been self- certified. The STINA Certified Producer Program adds an independent, third party certification. That’s a significant difference. It raises the bar to a new level.” Steel Tube Institute of North America stina@steeltubeinstitute.org www.steeltubeinstitute.org

The Steel Tube Institute’s Producer Certification Program is an on-going process. Once a company has passed the initial assessment, it is subjected to up to two visits a year by Intertek, who will audit and test the company’s raw materials, production processes and post production test reports, and obtain samples of manufactured tubes for testing at their verification centre. Bill Wolfe, STINA’s executive director, said that the testing procedures were as demanding as any he has experienced in the steel industry: “Intertek’s years of experience were evident during the process, and their comments and suggestions to our member companies were insightful. It was not only the testing procedures, but the additional information and recommendations they provided that made their audit processes so valuable.”

These six companies are the first to have successfully passed the rigorous audits and product testing administered by Intertek, one of the largest providers of auditing, inspections, testing, quality assurance and certification of companies’ products and processes. All of the facilities certified are producers of steel hollow structural sections (HSS). Two of the companies were able to qualify more than one manufacturing location. The certified facilities are: Allied Tube (Morrisville, Pennsylvania); Atlas Tube (Chicago, Illinois; Harrow, Ontario; Plymouth, Michigan); Bull Moose Tube (Trenton, Georgia; Elkhart, Indiana); Searing Industries (Rancho Cucamonga, California); Southland Tube (Birmingham, Alabama); and Vest, Inc (Los Angeles, California).

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Tube Products International January 2012

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