Not sugar coating it; the best plant managers’ recipe

Deviating from a standard recipe; who doesn’t? You like to tweak the dish to your particular preferences. You probably do the same with your operations’ handling equipment. But as with the perfect frosting, it is with the perfect pipe coating… Experience, good ingredients and balance are everything.

Handling equipment is often ‘the runt of the litter’. It is however the only basis for Operational Excellence. Meaning measurable, certifiable and consistent results; a growing concern nowadays. It can’ t be just good, it needs to be reliably excellent.

Optimal equipment settings

So what your pipe coating systems need is not just properly functioning conveyors, line-up modules (LUM), pipe buggies, lower-in or kick-out handlers or stoppers. Above all else, you need to know the ideal recipe for it to work at its best. Whether you’re blasting internally, or coating externally, a standardized optimal ‘recipe’ is already in place. However, your plant has its own specific requirements. Adjusting to those needs is key! To optimize the quality of output and save time, we have ‘programmable recipes’ with settings that have proven to be efficient. 

Variations affect your OPEX

Blasting and coating conveyors are a crucial part of the treatment process, which is always a combination of rotational and axial movement. When the outside of a pipe is coated, a continuous process, the coating equipment stands still as the pipes move along past it. When coating the inside, a discontinuous process, it is exactly the other way around. Variations in these movements automatically result in variations in film thickness, temperature fluctuations or other quality disruptions. This may result in an increase of material consumption which negatively affects the operational expenditure of the plant.

Deviating from standards

When deviating from the standard recipe database, it is important to know the perfect settings. Amongst others, you can achieve this by easily introducing changes to your exact pipe diameter data and process parameters. For this, all our conveyors have a readily available comprehensive ‘recipe’ database that you can use for your perfect coating. Your settings will be readily available for a next run in the future. Combined with the use of sensors, you don’t even have to check your ‘ingredients’ anymore.

Automated gap closing

At the start of the coating process, as well as in the catch-up and breakaway zones, the closing and opening of gaps can be automated. Software ensures that pipes are moved head to tail without damaging the pipe ends – or people! Smart handling equipment enhances not only security but also safety. Because a heavy pipe swinging back and forth from a crane can be an operational hazard. This can be avoided through indexing systems. These guide the pipes safely on rails to their destination. 

Boosting your operational excellence

A perfect dish is only as good as its ingredients and the cooks’ experience. Hence, the right equipment and the perfect settings contribute significantly to efficient operations and quality improvements. Through less downtime for instance. But also by less waste and less consumption of materials on the fly. 

Would you like to tweak your recipes?

Find more pipe handling solutions here. Do you want to check and possibly optimize performance and reduce risk? Send an email to sales@selmers.com or call +31 (0)251 211 999, or fill in a contact form via https://www.selmers.com/contact and we’ll get back to you.