Two BUTTING employees have recently faced an interesting challenge, travelling and spending several weeks in the East for a project in Saudi-Arabia, to support BUTTING’s customer on the spot with their welding expertise. The site of the project is Jubail, a town in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the Persian Gulf. At this spot in 2005 the Saudi Arabian firm Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (SIPCHEM) decided to construct an acetyl plant. In 2007 BUTTING received a follow-up order, having already supplied 390tn of pipes made of 316L in sizes from 3in up to 42in through an intermediary for the project – to supply a complete material package: a total of around 180tn of pipes, elbows, tees, reducers, flanges and weldolets in materials AL 6-XN and Alloy C276 in a wide range of sizes from 0.5in Sch 80 up to 36in Sch 10 were produced by BUTTING. The entire prefabrication of that material was also performed by BUTTING. From July 2008, one container a week was sent on its way to the Orient. An important prerequisite for the success of the project was the qualification held by 30 welders in Knesebeck and 15 based locally in Jubail, who were to install the prefabricated parts on the construction site. For this purpose, two competent young BUTTING employees were sent out to Saudi Arabia to train the welders there. For several weeks they supported BUTTING’s customer on the spot with their knowledge of welding. Their special responsibility was to train the Indian and Pakistani TIG welders, who were trained up specifically so that they could finish BUTTING’s piping components made from the nickel-based Alloy C276. After the training sessions, the two BUTTING welders supervised installation on the spot and provided assistance. The installation work in Jubail will probably last till mid-2009, then it is hoped to put the plant into service.
