TPT November 2017

T E CHNOLOG Y

Advanced technology welded pipe line WITH recent technological advances in the design of tube equipment and machinery the industry is entering a new era where fewer people are needed to operate a machine or an entire factory, according to Guowi Goa of FD Machinery.

other one fails, so the shut down risk due to the flying saw is reduced. • Automatic size change: due to the characteristics of square tube production of multi-specification, multi-species, small batch and its huge market share, automatic size change is becoming very important. Ten minutes to change specifications means that any batch of orders can be profitable. It is the usual practice of these manufacturers to change many times per day. • Automatic entry and collection sections: the entry section and collection sections are not only the most difficult areas of a welded pipe production line, but also two big barriers for improving equipment capacity. The automatic entry section and collection section have changed the situation here. Automation saves manpower and improves the working environment.

Current production lines will slowly be eliminated because of poor economic returns. High efficiency, automation and intelligent design are inevitable trends and will be less dependant on labour costs. In any country and region of the world efficient equipment will bring additional profits to investors as technology develops even further. FD, in the construction of its own production lines, often uses advanced technology in the following areas: • Roll change robot: roll changing is labour intensive. Half of steel tube plants have 1 / 3 to 1 / 2 time to change specifications; some even reach 2 / 3 . Shortening this time ratio is equivalent to increasing production efficiency. One line equals one and a half lines or even

two lines. Compared with cage, CTA, TTX and other flexible units, the biggest difference is that the roll change robot maintains the original appearance of the welding machine. Production of all products will not be stopped due to robot failure. • Double-cart flying saw: the real bottleneck in improving the speed of the production line was the cutting machine, and the advent of the double-cart flying saw has solved the problem. Not only is the production line speed increased, but the number of shut downs due to the replacement of saw blades is reduced. One side can still produce when the

Dalian Field – China Email: fd@fdmachinery.com Website: www.fdmachinery.com

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NOVEMBER 2017