OREANDA-NEWS. March 07, 2012. Since the beginning of this year, Baosteel UOE welding materials realize domestic procurement. Compared with imported materials, it saves more than RMB 23 million yuan of cost annually, reported the press-centre of Baosteel.

As UOE welded pipe production involves the characteristics of multi-pass welding process, welding materials are UOE production lines' largest money spenders. Baosteel UOE production line is put into operation in 2008. At the beginning, the expensive imported welding materials increase the cost of production. Under the technical support of Research Institute, production, procurement and related departments actively promote UOE welding material localization.

Under the joint efforts of researching and production personnel, Baosteel first makes breakthrough in the market difficulty. Through comprehensive and detailed market research, it finds suitable alternative suppliers. Secondly, it promotes technological experiments, welding experiments and expand the application of experiments with multi-pronged approach. In July 2008, the first batch of material localization technological experiment starts, after that, Baosteel overcomes technical barriers and continuously improves welding material performance and key indicators. Since 2009, the localization process advances step by step according to the material type and there is breakthrough each year.

At present, the various types of localized welding materials are stably applied in the UOE production site and are roughly equal to the level of imported materials. It is known that the cost of domestic of welding materials is only half of the imported ones and the production costs of the UOE production lines are reduced. With the continuous development of UOE new products, the research team will also speed up the welding material localization technological reserves and targeted supplier reserves and further reduce costs for the company.