TPi May 2015

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business & market news
22 Tube Products International May 2015
EPIC Piping announces executive
management team
EPIC Piping has announced the
executive management team that will
be responsible for driving growth at its
two facilities under construction. This
leadership team will also drive the future
international expansion of EPIC Piping.
David Chapman, Sr will lead the
company as chief executive officer. Mr
Chapman has been in the manufacturing
and fabrication industry for over 45
years, managing the pipe and steel
fabrication and distribution divisions for
several global industry leaders. He will
be responsible for managing business
and operational strategies across the
entire organisation.
Kent Shepherd joins the company as
president of domestic fabrication. Mr
Shepherd is an executive with more
than 26 years of Fortune 500 experience
in the pipe and steel fabrication industry.
President of international fabrication
Remi Bonnecaze is an executive with
over 27 years of Fortune 500 experience
in the pipe and steel fabrication industry.
Tom Calamia joins the company as chief
financial officer. Mr Calamia will oversee
and implement EPIC Piping’s financial
reporting and structure, and oversee the
company’s future financial growth. Chief
administrative officer and CIO Jeremy
Turner will oversee and implement EPIC
Piping’s information technology systems
and human resource operations.
“We are excited to be the fastest
growing fabricator in the world and we
envision EPIC Piping becoming the gold
standard in the piping andmanufacturing
industry,” said Mr Chapman.
“Our management team will ensure that
the highest standards are maintained
as we grow domestically and
internationally,” he added.
Epic’s total fabrication capacity
currently exceeds 360,000ft2, and will
expand to more than 500,000ft2 by
2016. Fabrication capabilities include
carbon steel, chrome moly, stainless,
Duplex steels, nickel-based alloys and
jacketed piping.
EPIC Piping – USA
Zhejiang Kingland puts
spiral pipe production
into operation
Zhejiang Kingland Pipe Industry, based
in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province,
China, has successfully commissioned
a spiral pipe plant supplied by PWS.
With its use of ‘PERFECT® arc’, the
plant meets Ecoplants criteria in terms
of sustainability, and offers energy
savings of up to 30 per cent, along with
increased productivity.
The plant consists of a spiral pipe
forming and tack-welding machine for
forming and pre-welding hot rolled
steel strip, and three downstream
offline finish-welding stands. It has a
capacity of 200,000 tons per year, but
can be extended by a fourth finish-
welding stand to increase capacity to
260,000 tons.
The newly developed Perfect arc welding
current sources are used for the welding
machinery. No transformers are required
– the systems are operated using IGBT
(insulated-gate bipolar transistor) power
electronics, with the welding current
completely digitally controlled.
As a result, the welding
machines can attain an
efficiency rate of over 90
per cent.
Another benefit is the
reduced transfer of heat into
the pipe. For this purpose,
the process parameters are
adapted for each individual
welding wire, in order to
prevent unnecessary heat
being transferred into
the pipe material. This is
particularly important for
high-strength steels.
Zhejiang Kingland uses its
offline spiral pipe welding
plant to produce pipes to
API 5-L PS2 standard, with
an outside diameter of 508
to 1,626mm (20" to 64"),
wall thicknesses of 6.35 to
25.4mm (¼" to 1"), and lengths of 8
to 12.5m. The plant processes high-
strength steels up to API grade X100.
PWS GmbH – Germany