As the industry battles workforce shortages, cutting-edge automation transforms pipe fabrication to meet demand - BIC Magazine

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The industry has long struggled — and will continue to struggle — with developing a qualified workforce to deliver safe, consistent, quality pipe fabrication in real time to keep up with the aggressive growth in this business sector. Bayou City Industrial’s (BCI) customers often have the same question: “With workforce shortages, how can you increase production to meet our demanding delivery schedules?” BCI’s answer is to automate as much of the process as possible.

BCI recently expanded its pipe fabrication footprint to 45,000-square-feet, including a dedicated stainless steel fabrication bay, and incorporated cutting-edge technology with automated pipe profiling and automated welding equipment to meet the increasing demands of its customers. This expansion resulted in a 300% increase in shop throughput, reducing the production schedules from months to weeks without having to add personnel.

BCI’s pipe profiling equipment is a computer aided design-driven profiler that eliminates cutting length errors. The dimensions are taken directly from the engineered isometric drawings and integrated into the cutting programs to ensure consistent cuts and high-quality bevels. This profiling technique ensures the parameters of joint design stay within the applicable codes and tolerances for the automated welding machines. This profiling equipment maximizes the efficiency of cutting operations, enabling a seamless transition to fit-up processes and ensuring high quality fit-ups for the automated welding equipment. This can only be achieved with the equipment BCI has added to its production operations.

During this latest expansion, BCI added a triple process automated welding station to keep up with the speed of its pipe profiling operations. This automated welding equipment is the first of its kind on the Gulf Coast. It consists of a dual bay, tri-process welding station that welds at speeds 200% faster in 1-shift than manually operated welding stations. The processes used in this equipment are Hot-Wire Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW), Pulsed Arc Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) and Flux-cored Arc Welding (FCAW). The stationary equipment has pre-programmed welding procedure specification (WPS) and procedure qualification records (PQR) for a library of materials, pipe sizes and pipe schedules. It adjusts programs through computer-guided inputs tailored to individual waveforms for each process. The equipment has calibrated positioners to rotate the piping spools while welding and has two bays in sequence with dual 40-foot runways to minimize set-up time for the pipe spools. BCI’s spool detailing process maximizes spool geometry to facilitate the equipment’s efficiency to maximize production rates. As a result, a single operator can achieve the highest quality welds using the equipment.

The goal of the latest expansion of BCI’s pipe fabrication facility is to increase safety, quality and shop throughput through technology. This in turn helps mitigate the increasing shortage of skilled workforces while still allowing it to meet the demanding schedules of its customers. BCI is prioritizing technology over manpower in its production process.

To get additional information, visit bayoucityind.com/fabrication. To schedule a shop visit to witness this cutting-edge technology, interested parties should email [email protected] and indicate how assistance can be provided.

BCI’s fabrication shop is always available for visits from current and future customers, showcasing the future of pipe fabrication at Bayou City Industrial’s newest fabrication facility on the Houston Ship Channel.