Market for Pressure Vessels

[gayaz]

Dear All,

I work for a Fabrication company based in california which holds ASME U stamp. We do a lot of Fabrication and very little Code work. Our past efforts to increase our work load in ASME area did not produce any results.

My questions is how is the market for pressure vessels and who are the big customers for pressure vessels and how to get RFQ's from them.

Looks like the competetion is very high in this market

Appreciate if you can provide your input on this general subject.

Thank you all

 

[waskillywabbit]

Local companies w/in your geographical region are going to be your best bet for sure.

Several options you might try are:

Recruit some sales reps to promote your business, they get a cut if they find you some work.

Advertise in fabrication publications, the Thomas Register and have a top notch website.

Just make sure you stay on the west coast and leave our customers alone!

Brian
Pressure Vessels and Autoclave Systems

http://www.mcabeeconstruction.com

The above comments/opinions are solely my own and not those of McAbee Construction.

 

[gayaz]

Brian,

Thanks for your comments.If I get tiny part of the west coast bussiness that will do.

well West coast is so expensive compared to texas & gulf coast. I don't think there will be a remote chance for business over there.

 

[lostsailor]

gayaz,
You may have a real tough job ahead of you, competition is rough and margins are razor thin, particularly with the cost
of materials being what they are. I know of more than a few shops that are taking in whatever work they can to keep the shop going while waiting for vessels to hit the floor.

Many shops specialize by industrial application, vessel types,
materials etc.(niche marketing). What sets you apart?

Regards,
RLS

 

[gayaz]

RLS,

We are medium Fabrication. We have the capability to build 16Ft X 60 Ft vessel. The biggest one we did was 17Ft X 100 Ft Vessel. We do carbon & stainless steel.

I guess I should say we set ourselves apart in size.

 

[JStephen]

"Many shops specialize by industrial application, vessel types, materials etc.(niche marketing). What sets you apart?"

That's the point I was going to make. Thinking of the veseel fabricators I have been familiar with (not many), none of them did purely "general vessels". Each had some specialty. Oilfield work, oil-water separators, hydropneumatic tanks, food industry, SS work, etc.

One question to look at is: Do you have very few vessel inquiries? Or are you getting very few of the vessels you're quoting? If the former, more salesmen or reps might help. If the latter, it's more of a problem.

I interviewed with a fairly small company several years back- and at that time, they had 4- full time sales people working the Houston area. Most of their vessels were small enough to be made from pipe.

 

[zdas04]

I've recently been looking for 2-phase separators, 36"X10', 1000 psi MAWP in the Rockies. Lead times are 6-12 months, the major players in this market are VERY slow to return calls and bids take weeks. The price escallation seems to have outpaced steel prices (if you compare vessel price changes to pipe price changes) and I'd be suprised if the margins were still as thin as they used to be (vessel prices have almost tripled in 2 years while pipe prices have just about doubled).

I'd say wellsite separators for the insane drilling programs in the Rockies (especially CBM) would be a good market for anyone with a "U" stamp, reliable capability, and some engineering staff.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The harder I work, the luckier I seem

 

[LuizSouza]

Gayas,

I advice you to open an office overseas in Brazil due to a lack of vessels company, there are only 5 that are able to produce big ones.
Last year I used to work fo Petrobras Oil Company (petrobras.com.br) and had a lot of troubles wit this kind of companies, mainly with date of delivery.
At the beginnig of this month, working now as a independent engineer, we started a short shutdown at a utilities plant around, we had to take out a quencher collumm with his vessel, in order to change only the vessel, and surprise! the vessel comes twice out of design especifications. After a investigation we found that the contructor was so busy with so many orders that they don't had enough people to take care of surveying all vessels leaving their shop.

This is only a comment to tell you that there's a huge market outside USA.

Best Regards

Luiz Souza
luizhenrique_99@yahoo.com
Brazil

 

[GenB]

I know a few Companies who do not want to mfr larger vessels anymore,
maybe they can giveyou their leads,
go to generalboiler site and send an email.
ER