Line Pipe industry is extremely important for the oil and gas sector of any nation and it is an integral part of most industries. Mr. Manish Pathak, President, Head – International Business, Welspun Corp Limited shares the excellent manufacturing capacities of Welspun and the key initiatives introduced by the organization to develop the talent and skills of the workforce.
Welspun Corp is one of the largest welded line pipe manufacturing companies in the world. The company has six manufacturing plants across India, the USA, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. India houses four of their line pipe manufacturing plants located in Anjar (Gujarat), Dahej (Gujarat), Mandya (Karnataka), and in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). The company manufactures line pipes with sizes ranging from 1½ to 140 inches, including Longitudinally Submerged Arc Welded (LSAW), Helically/Spirally Submerged Arc Welded (HSAW) and Electric Resistance Welded (ERW) pipes. The combined installed capacity of all the manufacturing plants in India is approximately 1.65 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA) with all plants duly equipped with in-house internal and external line pipe coating facilities. Amongst all plants in India, Anjar plant is the largest complex comprising various production lines to manufacture all types of welded line pipes. One of the salient features of the Anjar plant is its capability to produce all three types of line pipes in longer pipe lengths of 18 meters. Longer the length of the pipe, the lesser is the cost of construction due to reduced field welding.
Welspun Corp Anjar plant also houses a concrete weight coating (CWC) facility, which is a plant-applied coating used for submarine / offshore pipeline installations. While Dahej plant also produces LSAW and HSAW pipes, the other two plants situated in Mandya and Bhopal produce HSAW pipes of large sizes. The sizes of line pipes used for Oil & Gas pipelines are generally limited to 56” whereas those for Water transmission pipelines may go up to 140” in diameter. Welspun Corp overseas facilities situated in Dammam (Saudi Arabia) produces HSAW line pipes and the one at Little Rock (USA) manufacturers HSAW and HFW line pipes. Both the overseas plants have in-house pipe coating facilities. Welspun Corp has a total global installed capacity for welded pipe manufacturing capacity of 2.55 MMT.
The company’s plant in Dammam in Saudi Arabia caters to the demand of both Oil & Gas as well as Water supply projects of Saudi Aramco and SWCC respectively. Its Little Rock facility based in Arkansas, the USA, predominantly services the Interstate Gas Transmission Companies of USA in addition to major oil producing and transportation companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and TransCanada. Welspun Corp has supplied the line pipes for the Keystone pipeline, which is the longest oil pipeline in the world transporting crude oil across approx. 1,700 KM from Canada to the USA.
It is a prominent capability that Welspun Corp provides all services under-one-roof such as Welded Line Pipe, Anti-Corrosion Coating Systems, Concrete Weight Coating for offshore pipelines and Hot Pulled Induction Bends. The organization has implemented robust equipment in its plants from all reputed manufacturers of the world. Welspun has implemented intensive automation for production, testing, inspection and traceability such as ERP based on-line data recording, optical dimensional measurements, robotic pipe marking etc. to ensure flawless processes and world-class product quality.
Being a part of an industry wherein every customer comes with a unique and customized set of technical requirements, it is imminent for an organization like Welspun to keep pace with the evolving industry dynamics. Welspun Corp has a structured and distinct focus on training and development of its personnel for building up a high impact, high caliber team of skilled professionals to ensure absolute satisfaction of its global clientele. As a key initiative, Welspun has established a Technical Center of Excellence (TCOE) at its Anjar complex, which is engaged in the development and implementation of high-level technical training programs for Welding, Non-Destructive Testing and Anti-Corrosion Coating. The idea behind the establishment of TCOE is to enhance the technical capability of the team by providing exposure to the latest technological aspects, which are adopted by the industry.
TCOE is also responsible to induct high potential candidates from renowned institutes, onboarding, conducting multiple training sessions and hand holding for their placements in respective core functions.
Additionally, TCOE has a structured objective for launching various developmental projects for employees in the various grades like operational Cost Optimization, Debottlenecking of Production Lines, Automation, and Vendor Development. It has structured and continuously upgraded programs for assessment of post-training effectiveness, capturing, and retaining the personnel, which are carried out by in-house superiors as well as by engaging external global industry experts of repute.
Welspun also conducts various in-house and off-site programs in the areas of strategy, corporate leadership development, innovation, communication skills development, design thinking, and functional training modules like supply chain management, taxation, finance, computer literacy, etc. The management of Welspun is focused on skilling the team to continue maintaining its leadership position in the industry at a global level.
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