Fabrication Monitoring

Enspec offers, worldwide, an independent vendor audit, fabrication monitoring and expediting service. Enspec's knowledge of welding and joining spans the spectrum of engineering materials.

From the choice of correct consumables, welding process and procedure for metallic materials, to comprehensive advice on joining systems for plastics, ceramics and composite materials, Enspec can help ensure that the desired standards of manufacture are achieved.

This type of specialist procurement service has been utilised for a variety of projects involving high-value capital plant and equipment, such as boilers, filters, pressure vessels, centrifuges, storage racking, transformers, pipework etc.

Enspec has in recent years, become a leading provider of technical advice and support to clients in the pharmaceutical industry, who have experienced fabrication-related problems with new plant and equipment supplied by European and overseas vendors.

Enspec can ensure that the client is supplied with plant and equipment that has been manufactured in accordance with both national and in-house standards.


Building Reliability into New Plant and Equipment
There are a number of key sequential stages in the design and construction of plant where materials engineering expertise is essential. These include:

• Vendor assessment (Vendor QA/QC Audit)
• Design assessment
• Materials selection and specification
• Fabrication specification (Manufacturing and Quality Control Plan)
• Inspection specification (What, How, Where and When to inspect)
• Fabrication monitoring
• Maintenance optimisation (Plant Condition Monitoring)

The aim is to ensure that important reliability and maintainability questions are addressed at the appropriate stage. Enspec has developed a series of checklists and procedures for each of the key stages within an overall structured procurement programme. Quality control plans can be developed for key plant items for each stage. This ensures that the appropriate tests, inspections and responsibilities for the elements of the manufacturing process are agreed with the client and their supplier before work commences.

As Enspec is primarily based in Europe, the company has on many occasions been requested to perform inspections of new plant and equipment at manufacturing facilities located in Europe on behalf of overseas clients.

For those clients who have encountered quality-related problems with vendors and are seeking an independent technical assessment, Enspec provides a fabrication troubleshooting service. This would typically involve the following steps:

1. Brief review of the problem and any relevant technical documentation.
2. Visit to the vendor's manufacturing facility in order to inspect the equipment.
3. Preparation of a technical report detailing the results of the examination together with conclusions and recommendations for rectification.

In reality, because of construction time constraints and the potential impacts on the project schedule, the technical solutions are often dealt with and implemented at the time of the visit to the vendor.

Some examples of recent projects, in which Enspec has been involved, can be seen in the Fabrication Monitoring Case Histories section. The examples serve to illustrate the types of problems which can be encountered during manufacture. It is Enspec's experience that manufacturing defects can arise for a number of reasons i.e.

1. Design errors.
2. Inadequate fabrication/welding procedures.
3. Poor quality control on behalf of the manufacturer. Lack of knowledge and experience relating to the design code and/or defect acceptance requirements.
4. Poor quality control on behalf of the client. Lack of knowledge and experience relating to the design code and/or defect acceptance requirements.
5. Human error.