October 2012 Tube Products International
9
business & market news
Stainless tube and bar depot built
Marmon/Keystone LLC has announced
the addition of a new stainless steel
bar depot at the its Spring Valley,
Illinois location. The 200,000ft
2
building
houses state-of-the-art Amada
automated CNC saws that can provide
value-added services for all cut-to-
length orders.
“The stainless bar depot provides a
wider range of sizes and grades in one
location,” said product manager Patrick
Gibbons. “This new depot enhances
our inventory of stainless bar that is
currently stocked at our 26warehouses.
It offers greater accessibility for large-
volume requirements, and will provide
our customers with faster deliveries.”
A leading wholesale distributor of
tubular products for over 100 years,
Marmon/Keystone inventories more
than 15,000 sizes and grades of
carbon, alloy, stainless and aluminium
tubular and bar products. Service
centres and sales offices are located
throughout North America, with
corporate headquarters in Butler,
Pennsylvania.
Marmon/Keystone LLC
– USA
SmartFit wins Land-Based Pipeline Award
Pipe measurement specialist Optical
Metrology Services (OMS) Ltd has been
recognised by the Pipeline Industries
Guild for its innovativepipemeasurement
and fit-up system, SmartFit
TM
.
At the Pipeline Industries Guild’s
55
th
Annual Dinner, held in London
in March, OMS received the Award
for Significant Contribution to Land-
Based Pipeline Technology 2012, for its
SmartFit system.
First introduced in 1996, the objective
of the Land-Based Pipeline Award is
to promote the development of new
ideas in the general field of land-based
pipeline technology. Its scope includes
any aspect of pipeline engineering,
including
design,
construction,
operation and maintenance. The
award is typically for an achievement
developed in the last five years, which
has been successfully implemented or
completed within the last 12 months,
resulting in a significant contribution to
land-based pipeline projects.
The Pipeline Industries Guild supports
eight annual awards and competitions
throughout the year. This includes three
technology awards for ‘subsea’, ‘land-
based’ and ‘utility’ pipelines. Entries
are submitted annually and judged by
an award panel.
Jim Buston, client solutions executive
at OMS, who received the award on
behalf of the company, commented,
“We are delighted that SmartFit has won
the Land-Based Pipeline Award 2012,
which further confirms OMS’s position
as a leading provider of innovative
pipe measurement, inspection and fit-
up solutions to the global oil and gas
sector, both onshore and offshore.”
SmartFit is a suite of hardware and
software tools, which together provide a
powerful system for pipeline contractors,
ensuring that pipe fit-up, welding and
pipe-laying processes run as smoothly
as possible with minimal interruptions.
Elements of SmartFit are deployed in
different ways to suit the practicalities
of different production processes, both
onshore and offshore.
After pipe end measurements are
complete, SmartFit also provides
software that uses this measurement
data to optimise the sequencing and fit
up of pipes. Typically, SmartFit consists
of a laptop computer system used prior
to the pipe firing line, for example, in a
‘ready rack’ on a pipe-laying vessel or
in an onshore pipe holding area.
The Pipeline Industries Guild’s
membership comprises those with
interests in pipelines, transporting
hydrocarbon products, chemicals,
water, wastewater, and many other
substances, both onshore and offshore.
All are governed by the industry’s twin
need to combine quality with safety,
while at the same time meeting all
the latest environmental and legislative
requirements.
Optical Metrology Services Ltd
– UK
(from left) Les Dawson OBE, president of the Pipeline Industries Guild, Jim Buston of
OMS, and Richard Price, national chairman of the Pipeline Industries Guild
