10 years of work on XOT metals Titanium Gr5 Tightening Assemblies and Lifting Inserts
Titanium Gr5 is widely used in the construction of submarine pipelines and oil mines and the manufacture of floating objects because of its good corrosion resistance and underwater pressure resistance (high tensile strength, light specific gravity).At the same time, the service life is longer (more than 30 years at least), avoiding the cost of frequent pipe replacement, greatly promoting the replacement of titanium to stainless steel.
Based on our 10-year experience in a subsea oil project involving titanium machining parts, we would like to share some experiences and lessons with you.
2010-2012 Early entry into the market
In April 2010, we first contacted this project and received inquiries and urgent calls from UK customers
At the same time, the customer sent the same inquiries to many domestic suppliers. Because of the difficulty of drawing processing and the control of the yield, most of the suppliers did not offer quotations.With the strong support of the technical department, after repeatedly confirming the requirements and relevant details with the customer.A set of assemblies: consists of 2 cross beams M80-95*500 (cross bar/axis bar), 2 M30-M42 Stud, 4 pcs lock nuts and 4 spherical nuts(M30-m42).Final confirmation of quotation and order
The difficulty of this order is that
- It needs to be completed within 6 weeks
- Although they are bulky industrial supplies, they need to be treated as works of art. Customers have requirements on roughness
- The boring processing of the beam part, the size and depth of the aperture
- Details of drawings should be paid attention to, such as chamfering, burr cleaning, marking and so on
For the first time supply, in order to ensure the quality, the customer arranged for the third-party testing agency France BV to do the 3.2 certificate (third-party testing authority)
This started very smoothly, the customer gradually increased the quantity, and guaranteed the quantity of 3-5 tons per month, After maintaining this rhythm for a year, in December 2011 (also when our client left his company), we received the last order.
The customer added a special nut, which is a counterfeit. Because of the customer’s business handover, the project leader simply provided the drawings without explaining too much. We made the real thing according to our understanding and mailed it to the customer for confirmation, but every time the successor gave an ambiguous answer, we finally made a batch according to the customer’s confirmation. After receiving the goods, the customer tried to deny it was qualified. After the final certification of foreign third-party testing, the customer is finally recognized as qualified. But in the end the project was interrupted due to personnel changes.
2014-2016 Access again for further development
When we visited an old customer in Southcape, UK, we saw beams and nuts in the customer’s place. After talking with the customer, we got to know the problems of the current supplier. After our on-site suggestions and processing solutions, the customer’s technical department recognized and suggested XOT to make samples for this project and evaluate our technical capabilities
5 sets, 10 sets, 100 sets, 500 sets, as the number of trial orders increased, after a year of running-in, we began to supply in bulk
In January 2015, our goods were complained by the customer due to the details of beam chamfering. Based on the principle of long-term cooperation and mutual support, the customer repaired the goods locally. At the same time, the customer sent quality inspection to China to help us improve the relevant production, quality inspection, marking process
- Each batch of workpiece shall provide the test report, log in and measured data
- Records of ultrasonic testing and marking of all bars before processing, and at the same time, attached are independent composition and performance test reports of three laboratories
- After finishing the finished product, PMI is used to test the surface to ensure that the workpiece brand is consistent with the original bar material and there is no mixing and marking error
- Reduce the ultrasonic detection from AMS2631 standard A1 level to A level (does not affect the use), in order to better control the cost
- Advance the next year’s purchase plan and delivery requirements in December each year, so that we can prepare in advance
Then we began to batch supply, because the batch is stable and continuous, we continue to improve the process and quality level, customers praise.In 2016, due to the internal adjustment of the foreign customer’s company, the business shifted to nickel and alloy, and we were derailed with this project again.Although we know the details of our end users, in line with the principle of abiding by the foreign supply system, we have never directly contacted the end users.
2017-2020 project stalled
Because of the derailment of the supply chain in the middle, we temporarily interrupted this project. During this period, we got some news about this project through feedback from our peers and our other customers.
- There are 2 grades of titanium GR2 and titanium GR5 for the customer’s processing parts. The shape is the same as the drawing, but the material texture is different, and the appearance is exactly the same
- On the one hand, customers purchase Gr2 and titanium GR5 finished processed parts in China (about 15-20 tons per year), and on the other hand, they purchase Gr2 and GR5 bars from China with a diameter of 80*500 and 100-150 tons and then process them abroad.
- Due to the strict price requirements, the supplier specially handles orders, material segregation and mixing, and encounters serious quality problems, returns and quality claims at other suppliers
In 2021, we will set sail again
At the end of 2021 A chance, we are a old customers recommend we got a chance to once again for the project to provide products, we provide 4 sets of finished product samples to this project again, because be familiar with machining process and detail requirement, controls the details and quality goods is much higher than that of ten years ago, and it provides more products detail parameters for the end customer evaluation, The samples have been highly recognized by customers, and the batch orders and follow-up cooperation are being implemented.
No matter how tortuous the process is, as long as the original intention is unchanged, work seriously, constantly summarize and optimize each process, safeguard the interests of customers, all the projects will be more and more stable, honest management will always impress customers!