From the Company
bps: new CNC machining centre
For some time now, bps has possessed wide-ranging capacities for machining. This
includes CNC turning, milling and boring. The company has now acquired a Bimatec Soraluce CNC 5-axis moving column milling machine, with a Heidenhain iTNC 530 controller. With this highly innovative system, bps is now able to machine much larger
components than previously possible.
Custom machining and custom parts according to drawings are also possible
Components of up to 20 metres long, 12 metres wide and 1.6 metres tall can now be machined at Cadolzburg. bps is active in the area of machining and manufacturing custom components, with a fabrication portfolio covering the following areas and products:
| - | milling of free-form surfaces up to DN 1400 (saddle curves on threaded fittings, inner and outer eccentric reductions, etc.) |
| - | turning and rotary milling up to DN 1400 |
| - | bevelling of pipes and fittings up to DN 1400 without wall thickness limits (all seam types conforming to ASME B16.25 and DIN 2559 or DIN EN ISO 9692-1) |
| - | splitting of arcs (from 90° to 45° and 30°) with subsequent bevelling up to DN 80 |
| - | custom machining and custom parts according to drawings (weld-on fittings, saddle fittings, tees, eccentric and concentric reducers, orifice plates, thermowells, etc.) are also possible |
bps has further refined its CNC programming, making it particularly advanced and efficient. This begins with the design stage, continues with 3D modelling, and culminates in transmitting the design drawings to the CNC controls of the machining equipment (CAD-CAM). This sophisticated combination of control software allows for the machining of any complex, non-rotationally symmetrical or asymmetrical component contour that may be desired.
This marriage of in-house machining capabilities with the welding technologies established by bps now allows for all types of piping components to be manufactured. Together with the BUHLMANN GROUP, we will be further expanding the business in custom components.
Groundbreaking cooperative agreement signed in China
The 14th of September, 2011, marked a major milestone for the BUHLMANN GROUP. On this day, a foundation was laid in Shanghai for a long-term agreement with China Guodian Corporation, one of the five biggest energy concerns in China.
Bernhard Buhlmann and Karl Buhlmann, Managing Partners of the BUHLMANN GROUP, personally made the trip to Shanghai in order to participate in the contract signing ceremony. The framework agreement is designed to intensify cooperation on the future energy projects of the Guodian Corporation. Participants in the ceremony at the JW Marriott Hotel included Stefan Möbs, Germany’s Deputy Consul General in Shanghai.
From left to right: Wu Wen, Director of Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission Bureau, Karl Buhlmann, CEO of BUHLMANN GROUP, Yao Jianbin, Vice Executive President of Guodian Material Group Ltd., Yan Jiqing, Director of Guodian Material Group Ltd., Jörg Klüver, COO of BUHLMANN GROUP, Bernhard Buhlmann, CEO of BUHLMANN GROUP, Jiang Yunfeng, Director of Material Management Dept. at Guodian Yinglite Coalchemical Engineering Co. Ltd., Stefan Möbs, Germany’s Deputy Consul General in Shanghai
The China Guodian Corporation was represented by a visiting delegation of twenty highranking managers. It was led by Yao Jianbin, Vice Executive President of the Guodian Material Group Ltd. Furthermore, there were numerous representatives from the 140 company-owned power stations in attendance. Government representation included a speech by Wu Wen, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission Bureau. The BUHLMANN GROUP was represented by Jan-Oliver Buhlmann (Member of the Board of Directors, BUHLMANN China Ltd.), Directors from Germany Jörg Klüver and Reinhard Scheller, Wolfgang Hucklenbruch (Director of Procurement) and Dr. Christian Baum (Technical Director).
The China Guodian Corporation is a state enterprise and one of the five biggest energy producers in China. The concern includes over 200 energy companies in 31 Chinese provinces, as well as several research institutes. It builds and operates power stations, while also participating in related business areas, including transport logistics, coal production, renewable energies and environmental protection. Guodian has a total of 140 power plants using coal, gas and alternative energies. More than 110,000 employees work at Guodian.
For the cooperation the already existing BUHLMANN warehouse in Fengxian (near Shanghai) was reorganized to fulfil the requirements of the Guodian Corporation even better. This location was already stocking locally produced tubes, flanges and fittings, in stainless and carbon steel. BUHLMANN will now be able to also offer the additional materials that Guodian needs for constructing and maintaining power stations, always on hand and just in time. For example, BUHLMANN China will begin stocking T-Grades in the first half of 2012, which are particularly needed for boiler construction and maintenance. “All told, we’ll have over 1,000 tonnes of materials in stock,” says Jan-Oliver Buhlmann.
After the official photo session, Karl Buhlmann addressed the audience. “The BUHLMANN GROUP is very proud to form a partnership with one of the biggest energy concerns in China,” he said in his speech. Bernhard Buhlmann later added that the Group was very pleased to contribute its decades of experience to this mutually beneficial partnership in China. Yao Jianbin, Vice Executive President of the Guodian Material Group Ltd., spoke at the end of the event. He reaffirmed that BUHLMANN had made a strategically important and beneficial decision in establishing a warehouse in Fengxian, where it can stock high-quality materials for the regional market. According to Yao Jianbin, “The cooperation between Guodian and BUHLMANN creates major synergistic effects for both sides, allowing the market to be served at the right time, in the right location, with the right people.” Afterwards, Jörg Klüver offered his assessment of the agreement: “Our international expertise, outstanding quality control, and support from our strategic partners such as the Vallourec Group, all offer great advantages for Guodian.”
Bremen warehouse to be modernised
Bremen has set its sights on new goals: The main focus of this warehouse location is now on regional customers in northern Germany. Its extensive product portfolio will make BUHLMANN Bremen the only warehouse in this region with a complete range of tubes, pipes and accessories.
In 2010, the North Sales Department was restructured under the direction of Kim Daniel Michelsen. Three teams each focus on one of the following groups of industries: shipyards and shipbuilding, boiler and power station construction, and plant and pipeline construction. Now it’s time for the second step: the modernisation of the warehouse in Bremen. The planning phase is complete and implementation should be completed by mid-2012. “In Bremen we’ll keep an eye on the needs of customers in northern Germany,” says Michelsen. “Our sales region extends from the Netherlands to Poland, and from Flensburg to Osnabrück and Magdeburg.” The modernisation plans were made in close cooperation between the North Sales
Department and the Warehousing and Logistics Department under Operations Manager Michael Thölken.
Kim Daniel Michelsen (left), Director of the North Sales Department, and Heino Augustin, Warehouse Manager in Bremen, are the driving forces behind the modernisation
In Bremen there are a total of six warehouses with approx. 12,000 square metres of floor space and a total capacity of some 10,000 tonnes of tubes and tube accessories. In hall 5 a new high-bay facility is being installed with 1,300 mesh-box storage bins and a capacity of approx. 1,500 tonnes along with new order picking machines. There will also be a wrapping machine for packaging stainless steel tubes. Furthermore, there are plans for new cranes to be used with stacking cradles. The equipment and workplaces will all feature state-of-the-art technology. It will be possible to create more space for the storage of materials by increasing the number of mesh boxes and storing pipes in stacking cradles and stanchions. “This allows us to significantly increase our storage programme,” says Michelsen. In future, five saws at the Bremen site will cut special-order installation lengths to meet customer specifications.
After the modernisation has been completed, BUHLMANN in Bremen will have northern Germany’s largest warehouse for storing welded and seamless tubes, elbows, fittings and flanges in carbon and stainless steel. Michelsen says: “Size, capacity and this combination of products make this warehouse unique in our region since the competition mainly stores its pipes in western and southern Germany.” Close proximity to customers makes it possible to guarantee rapid order picking and deliveries.
The colossus from Uetersen
Using BUHLMANN PowerGen pipes, ISW GmbH has manufactured an impressive thermal oil heater that is 12 metres long and weighs over 50 tonnes – and is destined for an Italian biomass power station.
“This is the largest boiler that we’ve ever built,” says Marco Schmied, a leading representative for Industrie Service und Wärmeträgeranlagenbau GmbH, or ISW for short, which is based in Uetersen. Schmied is responsible for everything from execution and procurement, to planning and approval by German regulating authorities. The technician is rightly very proud of this successful project.
Not a rocket stage, but a thermal oil heater at the outset of its journey
ISW has been working in the boiler, container, steel and pipeline construction sector since 1997. The production of highly efficient thermal oil heaters is one of the core competencies of the company located north of Hamburg. ISW has now manufactured one such thermal oil heater for a biomass power station in Italy – with approx. 13.5 tonnes of BUHLMANN seamless PowerGen pipes according to EN 10216-2 in P235GH TC1 in dimensions 101.6 x 3.6 and 101.6 x 5.6. The boiler is a giant heat exchanger in which thermal oil is heated by hot flue gases. The hot thermal oil is then used to drive a turbine that generates electricity.
The transport from Uetersen to the final destination north of Rome would represent a challenge for any logistics company. The structural component will be on the road for two weeks – but not always on a direct route. That’s not surprising considering that it’s 12 m long, 4.7 m wide, 4.5 m high and weighs 53 tonnes. The special truck that brings the boiler to Italy is 35 m long and weighs a total of 123 tonnes, distributed on 12 axles. Buon viaggio!
Trade Fairs
 |
March 05-07 2012 Russia Power Expocentre Moscow Moscow - Russia |
 |
March 26-30 2012 Tube 2012 International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair Fairground Düsseldorf Düsseldorf - Germany |
 |
March 27-28 2012 27. FDBR-Fachtagung Rohrleitungstechnik MARITIM Hotel Magdeburg Magdeburg - Germany |
Press Releases
Information about the material succeeding the C22.8 that is mentioned in the new EN standard for flanges
There is general uncertainty at the moment about the future standard for materials concerning flanges according to the new standard of EN 1092-1. The P245GH is also being offered as a basic material for C steel flanges in addition to the P250GH. This uncertainty has arisen because only the P245GH was listed as the standard forging material in the first edition of EN 1092-1 in June 2002. The P250GH with its better metallurgical properties has only been supplemented by way of the national appendix in the presently valid editions of November 2007 and September 2008 because of numerous appeals by manufacturers.
The P245GH is being primarily offered by factories from the Asian area and mainly the People´s Republic of China, which is concentrating on producing economical standard products. It differs in essential elements from the P250GH, which has chemical and mechanical parameters identical to the C22.8 that was the predominant material in the market previously. The P245GH is not absolutely stabilized with aluminium, in contrast to the C22.8 or P250GH: the matter concerns a semi-stabilized material as a rule. It has essentially lower values with carbon and considerably higher values with manganese than the C22.8 or P250GH. As a result, its chemical and metallurgical properties rather correspond to American materials and the former C22.3, which became technically obsolete in Germany many years ago.
The market is clearly tending towards the fully stabilized P250GH C steel (1.0460) -which is the successor of the C22.8 - for pressure-controlled purposes. A new material data sheet entitled “Flanges according to DIN EN 1092-1 made from the C22.8 or P250GH steel” was also published by the VdTÜV* in June 2008 for this reason, which compares the P250GH with the C22.8. As a result, the P250GH should be utilized for applications according to the guideline on pressure equipment, in connection with national sets of rules like the material data sheet 350/3 published by the VdTÜV.
Neue EN-Normen für Flansche und Schweißfittings in Kraft
3R International, Issue 07/2008, page 415-420
Séance plénière - "Surfez sur l'investissement: Les choix stratégiques"
La revue du SNCT, Issue 2éme tr. 2008, page 17-21
BUHLMANN, Partenaire du SNCT du congrès de Lyon
La revue du SNCT, Issue 2éme tr. 2008, page 56-57
Buhlmann Rohr-Fittings-Stahlhandel GmbH + Co. KG: "Discover our way of thinking"
Stainless Steel World, Annual Procurement Report 2008, page 37
You can open press releases in the form of PDF files in the download section.
» to download section