Bulletin 1/2011 - Siempelkamp

SieMpelkaMp | MACHInERy AnD PLAntS
Pipeline through difficult terrain
to continue to meet the customer requirements,
EUROPIPE modernized the existing
crimping press in ten-year intervals. In
2008, due to its design, the press reached
its performance limits. On top of that,
after more than 30 years, the number of
repairs increased and in the end, they were
no longer feasible. the risk of a shutdown
and quality problems could not be overlooked.
In order to permanently satisfy the company’s
own demand of being the technology
leader in its industry, EUROPIPE wants
to keep the plant in Mülheim up-to-date
and wants to be ready for future
demands regarding continuous quality improvement
and modernization. Key topics
include higher precision, larger wall thicknesses
and higher strengths.
In 2006 the management of EUROPIPE decided
to replace the existing crimping press
with a new and stronger one which could
process the heavier weights and higher
strengths as well as provide better geometric
properties at higher throughputs.
Another argument for the investment was
that the press had developed into a bottleneck
due to its limited capacity.
Special challenges
During the preliminary considerations on
the replacement of the press, it became
clear quickly that a new construction
would be an ambitious project. A significantly
stronger press would have to fit into
the existing space on the foundation even
though it would have significantly higher
press forces and a weight that would be
several times as much as the old unit.
Furthermore, the press would have to be
operational within only a few weeks after
disassembling the old one.
the least delay would have resulted in a
shutdown of the entire plant and would
have caused for a significant part of the
worldwide production of large pipes with
64
65
longitudinal weld seams to be canceled.
Reliability during the project progression
therefore had to have highest priority.
If possible, the existing press foundation
was supposed to be used. to build a new
foundation, then assemble and start up the
new press would not have been possible
during a regular summer shutdown.
Early on it was decided to use the summer
break of 2008 for the press replacement.
that meant a very tight timeline. From the
placement of the order to the crimping of
the first plate only one year was available.
to not interfere with the ability to deliver,
EUROPIPE had to insist on a pre-assembly
of the press in the factory of the manufacturer.
the risk that it would come to delays
between the disassembly of the old press
and the start-up of the new press would
otherwise have been too high. EUROPIPE
had to be absolutely sure that the press
would function at the first go. the disassembly
of the old press could not start until