about seamless steel tube for boiler

[coclodile]

Dear everybody !
We are a seamless steel tube maker in China ,and Our strength is boiler tubes ,we want to explore american market and overseas markets .
Can any one help me to establish with the buyer or just tell me how can we running the business with foreign buyers,
Thanks

 

[metengr]

coclodile;
I work for a user in the Power Generation market in the US, and conduct many technical audits of material we purchase in the US, and now around the world. Until such time that suppliers in China can overcome bad publicity, poor workmanship and preventing fraudulent test reports, I would not consider purchasing any material from mills in China.

One of the tube fabrication shops that I recently audited near our location was required by a different customer to purchase replacement boiler tubes from a mill in China. I happened to be in the tube fabrication shop to check on one of our jobs and looked at the other customers tube order. The tubes looked of poor quality. The customer had requested PMI on each stick because of this problem. At the recent ASME Boiler Code week, an item surfaced about fraudulent test reports that originated from a mill in China.

For you to overcome this problem, you would need to open your doors to having site Inspectors from customers parked in your shop for tube orders. I see no other way around this until the mills in China can produce reliable and quality products.

 

[rmw]

Let's assume that you are not the tube supplier that metengr has alluded to. If you are; ignore the following.

First, have your sales department contact tube re-sellers and fabricators like Boiler Tube of America or Metro boiler tube. There are others. They are always looking for a source of low cost, quality tubing.

Second, plan to participate in major trade shows like the recently concluded Power Gen Conference which was held in Orlando week before last. There is also Electric Power near Chicago next spring as well as regional shows. Name recognition is everything and those that use the tubing will be there showing their capabilities.

Third, plan to find a local representative that will know how the US market works and then take his/her advice. You can't be successful thinking that you can do things in the USA like you do them in China or other countries.

These are just a few that pop into my mind.

rmw

 

[davefitz]

First, to use the alloy tubes in US boilers, the tubing would need to meet the material requirements of the ASME code , which normally references ASTM standards. These include minimum requriements for quality control , mill records, fabrication and finishing procedures, etc.

Second, to overcome the apparent prejudice against tubing from China, you would likely need to either become certifed by an international QC organization ( ISO)or become affiliated with a reputable tubing companty that is already accepted by western countries. If this cannot be accomplished, then you would need to sell your products to a distributor or reseller who would be accepting responsibility for tubing quality and using his reputation to offset the unknown quality of the china facility.

From the standpoint of a boiler manufacturer, one US boiler mfr had built some HRSG's 6 yrs ago using welded tubing from a foreign pipe mill. This rolled and welded tubing was supposed to be 100% UT'd to confirm weld integrity. However, the UT machine was not properly maintained, and erroneously allowed several boilers worth of tubing to be implemented in many HRSG's. The HRSG's had widewpread tube failures and had to be rebuilt by the boiler OEM and represented a major financial loss.

So, QC that you can bet the bank on is the prime requirement.

 

[deanc]

coclodile:

I agree with metengr about the bad reputation. Have recently worked with some SA-53B ERW from PRC,with seams that split out on mechanical expansion. All the paperwork was good as well as the markings. But the seam was loaded with garbage and appeared to have be LF welded.

Your Chinese Review Teams for the import license really beat up US Manufactuers but you continue to import bad product. It seems that you talk the talk but do not walk the walk.

It will take time to reverse this feeling. Prove it by good overall product from your country.