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September 2009 |Vol22No5 |US$33
The
Pipe
People
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The international magazine for the
tube and pipe industries providing
worldwide news and information on
tube and pipe production, processing
and machinery.
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email: Tel: +44 1926 334137
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■ Reviews on the newest technology available
■ Up-to-date business and market news
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Tel:+1 (419) 872-2364
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November 2009 |Vol22No6 |US$33
6 July2009 ›
Industry News
The FABTECH International and AWS
Welding Show, including METALFORM,
will be held atMcCormick Place, Chicago,
15-18November.
35,000 visitors are expected to converge
in both the North and South Halls of
McCormickPlace,and this year’s combined
event brings over 900 exhibits, industry
innovators, and hundreds of live equipment
demonstrations among pavilions dedicated
to forming and fabricating, stamping,
welding, tube and pipe, lasers, and thermal
spray.
Attendees can also take advantage of a
unified educational curriculum during the
2009 event, featuring a variety of technical
seminars, conferences and professional
programmes.
From metal forming, fabricating, tube and
pipe and welding technology to economic,
operation and management issues, the
programming at the event has been
coordinated to provide the latest and
most up-to-date information needed to
successfully operate in every aspect of the
industry.
Threedaysof freespecial
event programming
will feature keynote
presentations and drill
down sessions covering
topics ranging from
workforce development,
diversifying operations,
financing/credit and tax
incentives toopportunities
in the wind, solar and oil
andgas supply chain.
Additional show infor-
mation, including a list
of exhibitors, education
programme schedule,
special events and more
can be found at the event’swebsite,where
visitors can also save $50 by registering in
advance.
Fabricators&Manufacturers
Association, International –USA
Fax:+1 815 4847701
Email:
Website
2009FABTECH International
&AWSWeldingShow
 Briskbusiness at the previousFabtech event
Phamitech International, China, is a
supplier of pipemills to the globalmarket.
The company has experience and flexibility,
and can tailor solutions to customer
requirements.
The company states that after dozens
of installations of piercing mills, rotary
expanders, accu mills, assel mills,
sizing mills/stretch reducing mills, pipe
straightening machines, and other
Seamless tube technology inChina
finishing equipment, China has emerged
as an important supplier of 2-roll and 3-roll
retainedmandrel pipemills (MPM).
Phamitech has delivered two MPMs in
China, one ofwhich, a 250MPM, has been
in operation for almost three years. The
other is a 114MPM, which is a repeating
order fromWSP Holding Limited, and has
been delivered recently. The company has
also received orders for another two lines  10" stretch reducingmill
 258mm piercingmill from the same customer: a 366 TRCM
(3-roll retained mandrel pipe mill) that is
undermanufacture, and a 140MPM that is
in the design stage.
Phamitech’s next order, from Neimeng
Mengfeng, is for a 140MPM seamless tube
plant,which isalso in thedesign stage.
In February, the company obtained one
180MPM order from India, which is the
first MPM order Phamitech has received
from the international market, indicating a
successful step into global competition.The
project is in progress as per contract.
Phamitech Int’lCompanyLtd –China
Fax:+86 10 68470948
Email:
Website
72 July2009 ›
Automotive
Connoisseurship not consolidation:
BMW bucks an industry trend
The German luxury auto maker BMW is taking a contrarian
approach to the challenges of themarket.While Fiat andChrysler
join forces,BMW isgoing italone, confident thatpremium cars from
an independent producer hold perennial appeal for individualists
with deep pockets.
“Do peoplewant to differentiate themselves from each other?”The
question was posed by Friedrich Eichiner, BMW’s chief financial
officer, during an interview with theInternational Herald Tribuneat
the Munich headquarters of the company. Mr Eichiner answered
himself:“I think so.Thatwish is there and it is enduring.”
TheTribune’s Carter Dougherty pointed out that Mr Eichiner’s
“instinct” is up against some bracing realities in a period of austerity
and greater personal savings— especially in the United States.
(“BMWPuts aPremium on Independence,” 7May)
TheTribunenoted that Fiat’s chief executive Sergio Marchionne
believes the successful carmaker of the future will need to sell at
least 5.5 million vehicles a year— far more than the 1.4 million
BMW sold in 2008. In the view of the auto industry’s “man of the
moment,” only that volume of saleswill support development of the
technology required tomeet increasingly rigorous standards for fuel
efficiency and emissions control.
Accordingly, theFiat chiefpursuedamergerwithbankruptChrysler,
andmay also pick up the European operations ofGeneralMotors.
MrDougherty noted that, tomany industry executives, “It is time for
the premium manufacturers to consider similar moves, combining
high-margin carswith economies of scale.”
• But,toMrEichinerandotherBMWexecutives,thatbusinessmodel
ignores amajor problem of large-scale operations: the punishing
fixed costs of factories andworkers that become a burden at less
than full-boreproduction.Thecompanychooses instead to rest its
hopes ina smalleroperationgeared todiscerningandaffluent car
buyers in Europe and theUnited States. SaidMr Eichiner,“Size
does not protect you from anything.”
Pipelines
TheEuropeanUnionmoves closer to a
start date forNabucco, butRussia intends
to fight its corner
An energy agreement signed 8May by the European Union and
Turkeyaims to speedup the startdateon constructionof the2,000-
mile Nabucco pipeline, which would bring natural gas from the
Caspian Sea to Europe while bypassing Russian territory.A prime
consideration is the reduction of dependency on Russia, currently
the supplier of some 20% ofEurope’s fuel needs.TheEU hopes to
be pumping first gas throughNabucco by 2014.
The agreement, signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Egypt, and Turkey at a summitmeeting in Prague, had hinged on
Turkey, whose cooperation is essential for the pipeline but which
was brought only slowly to acquiesce in the transit rules hammered
out by the participants. Turkey now allows that it is prepared to go
ahead on the project.ButPresidentAbdullahGul hasmade it clear
that he expects to see some parallel progress on Turkey’s stalled
bid formembership of theEuropeanUnion.
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan declined to sign the
agreement, presumably out of deference to Russia, which views
Nabucco as a potential geopolitical challenge. The recent decline
in energy prices has weakened the Russian position somewhat,
creating an opportunity that the Western partnership was poised
to seize. If itmaterialises, the Nabucco pipeline couldmove some
31 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually, or up to 5% of
consumption in the countries of the European Union. The cost of
infrastructure has been estimated at $12.2 billion, but that is not the
sole challenge. Other steady and reliable sources of natural gas
must be secured, beyond Azerbaijan; and the likeliest of these—
Iran and Iraq— are problematic, to say the least.
• AsreportedbytheMoscow-baseddaily Kommersanton 27May,
work is tobegin thisSeptemberonan Iran-Pakistanpipeline,with
completion also projected for 2014.According to the newspaper,
theRussian gasmonopolyGazprom is promoting the project on
grounds that thediversionof Iraniangas tomarkets inSouthAsia
would eliminate a source of competitionwithRussia as a supplier
of gas toEurope.
Steel
Profile in preparedness:
BlueScopeSteel Ltd (Australian)
Steel demand will stabilise in the latter part of 2009, leading to
a mild recovery in 2010, the World Steel Association predicted
in April. As befits the world’s biggest steel consumer, China has
committed $586 million to spurring domestic demand.Worldwide,
individualproducersareemployingvarious interimstrategiesof their
own. Both sets of initiatives— national and corporate— presume
a recovering market. The companies recognize something else:
the imperative to be in the best possible state of health when that
market opens up.
RebeccaKeenan,writing fromMelbourneon bloomberg.net(5May),
noted that steel makers from Europe’s ArcelorMittal to Australia’s
OneSteel Ltd have taken advantage of a global stocks rally to sell
shares this year, strengthening finances as they cut output and
conserve cash. One such is Melbourne-based BlueScope Steel
Ltd (formerlyBHPSteel), an integrated producerwith operations in
Australia,NewZealand,Asia-Pacific, andNorthAmerica.
Although globalmarket conditions remain “challenging,”BlueScope
said inMay that thedecline indomesticsalesvolumes thatwasseen
toward the end of 2008 had levelled out. The producer planned to
raise asmuch asA$1.4 billion (US$1 billion) from its second share
sale in threemonths. Its offer to existing stockholderswas at a 40%
discount to the last traded price.“There is plenty ofmoney around
and they are taking advantage of that,” the head of Australian
equities at a brokerage house inSydney told Bloomberg.
BlueScope also said it might delay restarting the Number 5 blast
furnace atPortKembla after amajor relinewas completed in June.
Global Marketplace
36 J
uly 2009 ›
Ercolina, USA, has launched the GB90/
GB100 semi-automatic Giga Bender
mandrel machine for large radii tooling up
to 16”CLR.The bender is ideal for bending
tube, pipe, square and rectangular profiles
to centreline radius as tight as 1.5D.
The interactive PLC touchscreen offers
easy access to auto andmanual operating
modes, system diagnostics and multiple
language capability. The heavy steel
structure of the GB90/GB100 provides a
rigid platform andminimizes vibration. The
machine is complete with a high capacity
hydraulic reservoir with automatic cooling
system.
The GB90/GB100 offers programmable
bend angles with an independent material
springback setting for each bend.
Programmable auto mandrel positioning
allows the operator to optimize extraction
for improved bend quality. Clamping,
pressure die and boost movements are
programmable with a manual override.
Convenient USB connectivity is available
for unlimited programmemory storage and
communication.
Technology update
TheErcolinaGB90/GB100
semi-automaticGigaBender
mandrelmachine
InnovativeGB90/GB100
mandrel tube and pipe bender
Themachinesareavailablewith fullCNC (6)
axiscontrol,withprecisionencodersoneach
axis ensuring highly accurate bending.This
accuracy is highlighted by the interactive
touchscreen that displays absolute (ABS)
or incremental (INC)positioningwith inchor
metric readout. Inaddition,aprogrammable
tail stock interference zone monitors
position and eliminates workhead collision.
The bender accepts YBC and XYZ input
values.
Standard hydraulic ports accept Ercolina’s
patented (KST) clam shell or (FST) finger
clamp systems. The hand-held remote
bending control is certified class 3 safety
and all electrical components are UL, CSA
andCE approved.
CMLUSAErcolina–USA
Fax: +1 563 391 7710
Email:
Website
Be Ca Engineering Soc Coop, Italy, a
provider ofmachines formanufacturing and
testing tubes and pipes, has launched a
new,patented technology for theproduction
of bimetallic tubes and pipes. Bimetallic
tubes and pipes are an effective, economic
and reliable solution formanufacturing heat
exchangers, for power plants (nuclear and
thermoelectric plants), and for systems that
workwith corrosive fluids.
Application fields include chemical and
petrochemical industries, ammonia and
urea systems, fertilising and refinery plants.
The new technology creates a unique
bimetallic tube from two distinct tubes of
different materials. The main advantage
of this kind of tube is the possibility to
join together two materials with different
mechanical properties and with opposite
aims. For example, the first material
(inner or outer) could be a high corrosion
resistant alloy (eg copper, aluminium-brass,
zirconium)and thesecondoneahighstress
resistant alloy (such as steel, stainless
steel, iron, duplex, titanium).
The new manufacturing technology is
designed to be cheap and fast, and the
productionmethod is easy to carry out.
BeCaEngineeringSocCoop– Italy
Email:
Website
Newmachine for the production
of bimetallic tubes and pipes
 BeCaEngineering has created new technology for producing bimetallic tubes
A publication of
*from only $175 / Euro 126 per year