TPi July 2010

news business & market

Chinese flavour at Tube 2010

There was a Chinese ambience on the Stellar Tube & Pipe group stand at this year’s Tube Düsseldorf. The 100m 2 stand was designed throughout in traditional Chinese style, and to add further Chinese elements there were Chinese wooden chairs and tables, and even Chinese tea sets, with Jasmine tea available for visitors to the stand. Chinese classical music was played by two musicians – one playing a Guzheng (or Chinese zither), and the other an instrument from the west, an oboe. The Stellar group, which has its headquarters in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, was only established in 2006,

but has seen rapid growth, and turnover by 2008 was already over US$147m. The group now operates a number of production facilities, and has become a leading Chinese producer of seamless stainless steel tubes and pipes. As a member of Tsingshan Steel Group, a large producer of stainless steel long products, the company benefits from having quick access to raw materials. Tsingshan Holding Group has its own steelmaking workshop, which ensures a secure supply.

Stellar Tube & Pipe – China sales@stellarpipe.com www.stellarpipe.com

The atmosphere was enhanced by Chinese classical music

Brands of the Year Award for Steelex

Steelex (Pvt) Limited, Pakistan, was established in 1979 as a private limited company producing high frequency induction welded MS tubes, pipes and GI pipes from carbon and mild steel coil, for water, oil and gas services, automotive, construction and other engineering applications. The company has expanded its production facility to create a product size range of ½" to 12" diameter. The company won the second consecutive

The plant includes the latest equipment for the manufacture of MS and GI pipes, including slitting lines, cold rolling mill, high frequency welder, looping line, pipe mills, flying cut-off saw and straightening machines, threading machines, end facing machines, bevel machine, bending machine, and developed hot dipped galvanising process. Steelex (Pvt) Limited – Pakistan steelex@cyber.net.pk steelex1@hotmail.com

Brands of the Year Award 2009 in the category of MS and GI pipes in Pakistan. Steelex has been ISO 9001:2000 certified since 2000, and has developed inspection and testing facilities for products at all stages of the manufacturing process, for quality control and assurance. The company currently produces grades of pipes conforming to international standards BS and ASTM.

Increasing tube inspection throughput

PFW Aerospace, UK, has installed four ITP Group Tube Inspection systems at its site, to cope with the stringent inspection requirements of Rolls Royce Aero Engines. On PFW’s latest contracts, Rolls Royce only needs supply 3D CAD models of tube assemblies, without the need for fixtures or drawings. PFW uses the ITP Group Pipe Software to extract the tube and fitting data from the CAD model and then export the data to its tube benders and CMMs

(coordinate measuring machines), with no keyboard data entry required. The ITP Group systems are used for initial tube inspection, fitting orientation and final pass-off. Rolls Royce praised PFW Aerospace’s achievements, stating that the integrated production system based around the ITP Group machines was groundbreaking, and that they had not seen the level of throughput achieved at any other company. This increase in capability has seen PFW’s tube

assembly production quadruple in the last 12 months.

PFW Aerospace production engineer Adam Treadwell said, “We could never have fulfilled the Rolls Royce contract without the ITP Group systems. They’re outperforming all other tube inspection systems within the group.”

ITP Group Ltd – UK

itp@itpgroup.co.uk www.itpgroup.co.uk

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Tube Products International July 2010

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