In 2005, ULMA undertook a strategic plan that required ambitious investments. These investments were the beginning of a project aimed at generating renewed strength in the distribution channel and addressing new sales spaces, such as the substantial market of EPC engineering companies that specialize in large turnkey projects for the Oil & Gas industry.

At that time, the new demands of this unfamiliar market segment came on top of the technological, manufacturing and logistical challenges of the project.

Difficulties in manufacturing industrial pieces to order

Customized forgings have a specific destination and application, so the raw materials must be manufactured according to the specifications of the project. Management systems had to be developed in order to generate the documentation needed for each order, to design and install an integral data capture system throughout the manufacturing process that would guarantee the traceability of the product, etc.

Some of the biggest changes involved the presence of external inspectors in various phases of the production process and the customization of the product according to project specifications.

Customized flanges: visual identification and traceability

The first customizations of a flange take place during the machining process. It is very common that, in addition to the standard marking defined by international standards, codes have to be added to facilitate the identification of the flange once installed. For this purpose, friction marking systems were replaced by percussion marking systems, which offer much more flexibility, versatility and agility to be able to mark the flange with any combination of characters and symbols.

There is also usually a color code specific to each project that signals the type of steel and product, to avoid assembly errors.

This makes it possible to visually distinguish two flanges that seem to be equal in size and finish, but are actually different in mechanical properties. In the shipping area, the stripe, dot or whatever mark corresponds to the color assigned to the type of steel, is painted before the product is readied for final inspection.

Customized packaging according to the requirements of the supply chain

Although at ULMA Forged Solutions we have our own packaging procedure that prevents product damage during transport, it is usually necessary to adapt our system to the client’s. The packaging defines how to protect each individual flange, and how to group flanges into loading units, such as wooden boxes, which must be identified with the appropriate forms filled in with data regarding the manufacturer, product, etc.

These kinds of requirements are now also becoming more and more common on the part of traders and stockists as the whole supply chain tries to adapt to the ever more exacting specifications of their end customers.

At ULMA Forged Solutions, we have all the production and management resources needed to adapt to any customization requirements that our customers may have.