International Ductile Iron Pipes Co. Ltd (INDIPCO) Essay

International Ductile Iron Pipes Co. Ltd (INDIPCO) - Essay Example Ltd (INDIPCO) is an associate member of FAL Group of Companies. The group specializes in the manufacture of large ductile iron pipes with diameters ranging from 100mm to 2200mm. The company is located within the Royal Commission of Yanbua and Jubail in Jubail industrial city, covering an area of about 155,000m2. The company has an estimated production of about 200,000 tons of pipes annually. The company has its main customers within the Kingdom, in Europe and the MENA region. All INDIPCO processes are highly developed with the most current state of the art technologies, with its main equipment mainly sourced from Germany, China, USA and other leading technological states. All the equipment is installed and tested for a period of time under the supervision of experts from the above counties, to ensure the machine performs optimally with little hiccups in its systems. Generally, any experts involved in the maintenance and installation processes are highly conversant with ductile iron p ipes plants, to ensure quality and high standards are maintained within the company. The pipes manufactured and exported by INDIPCO are mainly used for water, firefighting, sewerage, effluents slurries, industrial water, and other fluids, meaning the company has a wide variety of pipes that target different clients in different segments. 1.2 Current main Projects The company undertakes massive water transmission projects portraying its expertise and skills in pipe manufacture and water and fluid transmission. An example of such an large scale projects still ongoing are a water transmission system covering an approximately 74,000 linear meters of pipes from Hali, Qanona, AL-Laitha and Yebh dams to AL Shoiba, which covers the phase one of the project. Another project is installation of suction lines for reservoirs in AL Madina covering a length of 134.2 km (INDIPCO, 2012). The company has therefore carved its reputation from handling mega projects in fluid transmission and manufacture of different grades of pipes to transmit different fluids both corrosive and non-corrosive. 2.0 Plant operation Process Fig. 1Pipe Manufacturing process The chart above summarizes the entire plant operation process in iron ductile pipe manufacturing to storage of finished pipes. 2.1 Mold Preparation and Maintenance. Mold making requires machines for mold welding, gridding and peening, and a lathe machine. Molds are used over and over till they wear out and fail to produce the required dimensional accuracy. After each, shift, the mold has to be replaced and maintained. The internal surface of the mold has to be ground using a sand wheel to remove any rust. The mold is then dotted with peening head to increase its crack resistance, and to improve its adhesion properties. All cracks on the internal surface of a mold have to be removed through turning, after which the turned area is welded and excess metal turned again to maintain the required dimensional controls. Grinding and peening ensure the mold finally has a smooth surface and is free from any cracks that may impair its usability. 2.2 Molten iron Preparation Molten iron, scrap steel, alloy and any rejected pipes are melted at this stage. The melting equipment is a two and three