TPi September 2019

Products & developments

Online self-service portal for long and piping products

manufacturers often lagging behind. According to Mr Josefsson, this is understandable given the complexities of the steel industry and the relatively conservative nature of the business. “Clearly, delivering a few tons of stainless steel tubing in huge wooden crates or reels is not the same as shipping T-shirts or ordering and tracking pizza deliveries,” said Mr Josefsson. “But the benefits of digitalisation open exciting new possibilities in our industry too, and we’re intent on leading this digital transformation.” The initial scope of E-Track will be limited to customers based in Europe, with a few exceptions. The focus is on standard stock items that are often reordered on a regular basis. These include solid round bar, hollow bar, seamless pipe (both Sandvik-produced and others), welded pipes (non-Sandvik produced), fittings and flanges. Kishore Narumanchi, Sandvik project manager for E-Track, commented, “Basically, we wanted to take the customer experience to the next level and allow customers to access instant information about our products and

Sandvik is launching a new self-service online platform that will allow customers to access information regarding round bar, hollow bar, pipe, flanges and fittings. The new E-Track platform provides customers with a personalised dashboard overview. Benefits include 24-hour access to information; current and incoming stock levels; customised price agreement handling; current orders and history; credit information; and documentation and certificates. “The whole purpose of E-Track is to cut through the complexity and make it easier and more convenient for customers to go online from any web- enabled device, 24/7, and access the information,” said Johan Josefsson, sales and marketing manager, long and piping products. “This doesn’t replace the human aspect of sales and service, which are still available and greatly valued by our customers, but it adds a helpful new digital channel for those who want it.” Sandvik sees the service as an industry first among steel manufacturers. Until now, the retail sector has been the main driver in adopting online sales and e-commerce, with industrial

E-Track is accessible from any web-enabled device

their orders, which are usually enquired through our sales team. Both the sales teams and our customers want to reduce the hassle of additional time- consuming steps and it frees them up to concentrate on more qualified tasks. Distributors and customers will also still be given their own special price lists that can only be viewed by them.” E-Track can be accessed on any device, anywhere and at any time. Mr Josefsson concluded, “At the end of the day, I still believe that people buy from their sales people in our business and the digital option is only there to complement and support. The new online platform is simply another way for us to move closer to our customers and it reflects the digitalisation that is transforming our global economy.” Sandvik Materials Technology – Sweden www.materials.sandvik In this case the Shawcor insulation layer is cast moulded at a 45mm thickness, providing a U-value of ≤5.0 W/m 2 K. This retains consistent flow temperature in water temperatures of 2°C, which is important to maintain a good flow rate and to minimise build-up. Once qualified, the collaboration calls for Shawcor expertise and a crosshead extrusion line to be integrated into the main m-pipe production line at Magma Global’s manufacturing site in Portsmouth, UK.

Magma m-pipe with Shawcor insulation Magma Global has added Shawcor’s Thermotite ® Ultra TM insulation to its m-pipe ® offering. It will be primarily used to improve flow by maintaining the temperature of production fluids. The insulation material can also be adjusted to add weight or buoyancy to manage stability of the pipe in the water column. The insulated product is currently in qualification for use in jumpers for a project in the North Sea and in the Ocyan CompRiser design. subsea insulation system designed specifically for flow assurance in subsea environments for use in ultra-deep water. The insulation layer allows the pipe to retain the ability to be transported and deployed on standard reels.

The ability to manage pipe stability through adding buoyancy or weight directly into the insulation material improves the potential simplicity of each design, reducing engineering and installation time on designing and building buoyancy and ballast modules. This is of particular interest for flowlines, jumpers and pure carbon fibre riser designs. The product will first be applied in the evaluation of m-pipe jumpers in Norway.

Magma sought to further improve the thermal insulation properties of m-pipe in order to maintain flow temperature for a number of current projects, and identified Shawcor’s Thermotite Ultra for the required thermal insulation to achieve this. It is a styrene alloy

Magma Global Ltd – UK sales@magmaglobal.com www.magmaglobal.com Shawcor – USA www.shawcor.com

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TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL September 2019

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