In the height of a drilling season, your shop is focused on maximizing production, and you don’t have extra time to think of new productivity fixes. To stay competitive within the oil and gas industry’s tight timelines, your shop needs to stand out as a leader in speed and efficiency. Luckily, the solutions to put you ahead can be implemented any day during a slower season.
Before you consider investing in new welding technologies, premium welding abrasives, or upsetting your standard processes, look inside your operational processes for solutions. Most of the opportunities to move pipe through the shop ahead of schedule lie within the equipment and staff already inside your shop.
Use these five steps to take a better look at how your shop floor operates and gauge if the operational standards and technology you use daily are getting you ahead or costing you time and money.
1. Reduce Operator Fatigue
The employees on the shop floor are some of your most valuable assets and they should be treated as such. Promoting comfort can lessen fatigue and will keep operators in proper shape for achieving the best results.
Technique and technology need to fit together seamlessly. The trigger, handle, and neck of the gun impact how long an operator can comfortably weld without increased stress. The gun must feel balanced to make maneuvering feel easy and not overstress joints.
Take time observing and get one-on-one feedback about the comfort of the equipment you supply for the welders to use. Then consider the following during your observation:
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GMAW guns can be customized to improve flexibility and reduce the wrist fatigue
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Good welding positioning and form indicate the proper equipment fit
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Heat stress, wrist and neck fatigue, and repetitive motion stress are the major concerns to watch for
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When in doubt, seek out OSHA standards and directives for further guidance
The tools inside the shop can make the most tedious rust removal and welding tasks feel fast and natural. When you put the right tools in the hands of fabricators, your shop can reach peak efficiency.
2. Implement Proper Safety Training
It’s likely that new fabricators are sharing jobs the workers who have been in the business for decades. Since welding exposes every operator to the same hazards, the proper equipment and safety practices must be followed across the shop. Unsafe practice can lead to injuries that result in being short staffed or having broken equipment that leads to a major drop in productivity.
Take a new approach to shop safety with any of the following:
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Only use auto-darkening helmets to avoid neck stress and ensure no accidental UV light exposure
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Setup a zero clutter policy to minimize injuries and misplaced tools while maximizing the efficiency of movement across sites and inside the shop
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Save time between tasks and cater to individuals needs by investing in adjustable height weld tables with a scissor mechanism
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Always consult the safety data for product lines
Preventing an accident is easier and more cost-effective than the aftermath of one. Appropriate precautions will improve the work environment for every shop employee and decrease mistakes.
3. Invest In Solutions That Last
The finishing of welded oil pipe often takes just as much time and resources as the welding itself. This drag on production is worse if you stock abrasives without lasting power. A well-trained operator who spends time changing out consumables is less productive and more expensive.
In addition to unnecessary downtime, stress injuries related to tool vibration can put an operator out of commission. With the right tools in hand, finishers can work faster without undue stress and wasted time.
Look for abrasives with the following qualities to maximize efficiency:
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Wheels that can be dressed quickly to conform to the appropriate thread size
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Abrasives that will effectively clean without changing thread shape
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Abrasives tested for low thread erosion
Luckily, technology has brought new options designed with pipe manufacturers in mind. There are premium welding abrasives that best suit the deburring and thread cleaning for new and used oil pipe.
4. Create a New System for Tooling Quality Checks
Quality control is a fundamental process and to outpace the competition, rigorous quality control needs to be applied to the pipe as well as the tooling inside the shop.
The status and quality of tools have a major impact on the consistency of welding and finishing. Don’t let these details get overlooked in busy months. More reliable tools will result in a better quality of life for fabricators and a better reputation for the shop.
Use your time during a slow spell to:
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Develop a tooling quality assessment
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Assign quality check tasks someone other than the manager or inspector to avoid overburdening high-level staff
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Include safety equipment and consumable abrasives in checkups
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Setup an automatic ordering system with distributors based on predicted depletion of consumables
If a pipe is fabricated incorrectly, there is a chance that it will leak and cause a hazard after delivery. This can harm the shop’s reputation and be a significant cost. Reduce the chance of improper fabrication by keeping tools in top shape all year.
5. Oversee Surface Guidelines
Oil pipe arrives with an assortment of surface conditions unsuited to welding. From scale or rust coating a surface to any leftover paint and primer, an improperly cleaned pipe is often the reason behind rejected welds.
Just like the old saying, “measure twice, cut once,” you are better off avoiding unnecessary repairs from the start. Set high standards for pipe surface preparation by re-educating staff and creating Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS) to make standards easy to visualize.
Make sure these best practices for pipe are being met:
- Clean the bevel
- Improper cleaning the base material of lubricating oil, dirt, or lacquer can result in hydrogen inclusions and cracking.
- Grind the bevel after plasma or oxyfuel cutting to remove the added layer of oxide.
- Clean the surface area 1 to 2 inches from the weld joint, where the pipe coating meets the bevel
- No moisture or condensation can be present before welding
- Don't shortcut or rush interpass cleaning. Snagging an abrasive wheel can kick back the grinder.
Consider offering short courses and demonstrations to all staff to emphasize the importance of the team working together toward the same goal of fast, safe production of high-quality work.
Educating your staff on new quality standards and reevaluating your shop operations is a win-win. By using your time wisely during the slow season, you can boost morale, decrease lead time, save money on tooling, and get pipe out to the field faster than before. Don’t settle for the old familiar tools and solutions. Many of the newest products are created to specifically provide solutions for oil and gas pipeline welding and maintain the highest standards to keep your team safe.
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