UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 23, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant invested 244m RUR in upgrading its equipment for quality control of large-diameter pipes. This was part of the plant’s and its partner Transient's strategic cooperation program, the Group’s press service reports.

For one, ten weld line and pipe end quality control units got upgraded (the units are meant to test pipes with the diameter ranging from 530mm to 1,220mm), and new ultrasound, X-ray, and magnetic particle test units were installed at the plant’s electric welding department.

The non-destructive quality control process is now fully automated and meets all the modern production requirements. The new equipment is expected to result in better quality of pipes supplied to oil and gas pipeline builders.

‘Transneft is one the Group’s key customers, so in order to meet this customer’s demands, the Group decided to upgrade its LDP testing equipment. The important thing is that all the changes were introduced at the plant without any downtimes, which meant the plant was able to fulfill all orders in time and in full,’ says ChTPZ Group’s Technical Director Kirill Nikitin.