Pioneering pipe and tube technologies

TMK-Artrom is a Romanian industrial pipe and tube manufacturer with a significant share of the European market for seamless tubes. The company is part of the TMK Group, a global leader in the design and manufacture of tubular products particularly for the oil, gas and automotive industries. Philip Yorke reports on a dynamic company that continues to lead the field with its revolutionary industrial tube and pipe technologies.

TMK is one of the world’s major producers of tubular products for the oil and gas industry as well as for many others. Since 2009, it has been ranked number one in the world by the volume of pipes delivered. The company’s pipe shipments in 2016 totalled over 4 million tons.

Located in the south of Romania in Slatina city, TMK-Artrom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the TMK Group. It specialises in the production of high-precision industrial seamless steel pipes utilised for a broad range of industrial applications, and made from materials including carbon, low alloy and alloy steel.

The company makes pipes for high temperature boilers, the automotive industry and seamless pipes for the oil industry. TMK-Artrom also creates dedicated pipes for water and gas installations, as well as grinding pipes and roller burnished pipes for cylinder production.

New heat treatment technology

TMK-Artrom has developed a unique heat treatment line that offers a number of value-added benefits. An austenitizing furnace with a walking-beam transport system, a spray quenching head and tank, a tempering furnace, cooling bed and hot-straightening machine are all assets to the latest investment project. In addition, a new water treatment plant ensures stability of the line with a minimum level of water wastage.

This innovative treatment process is able to treat tubes with a wall thickness of up to 60mm and capable of delivering over 160,000 tons per annum. Thanks to its high product flexibility, the heat treatment facility is also suitable for the cost-effective processing of small batch sizes for a variety of product groups. This advanced treatment line strengthens TMK-Artrom’s market presence and offers customers higher grade tubes for mechanical operations as well as for oil and gas exploration applications.

Continued investment programme

TMK-Artrom operates a continuous investment programme for new plant and process technologies and recently commissioned a new state-of-the-art workshop in Slatina, Romania. This has been designed to produce high precision pipes for the automotive industry and hydraulic cylinder production. The opening

ceremony of the new plant was attended by the Romanian State Secretary for economy, Popa Maricel and local dignitaries of the Slatina principality.

With its cutting-edge equipment, the workshop is set to process the inner surface of cold-formed seamless pipes by the method of skiving and roller-burnishing. The products manufactured will be used to manufacturethe hydraulic cylinders widely utilised in the production of hoisting machinery as well as automotive and avionics industries. As a result, TMK-Artron is now poised to expand into new global markets. This new high-tech facility also the company with another competitive advantage and the workshop has a capacity of more than 25,000 metric tons of pipes per annum.

The production line offers a high level of automation and integration, utilising the company’s ERP software providing a much wider range of speciality pipes. This is an ultra-modern and flexible heat treatment linewhich is able to perform all types of heat treatment required for the production of high-precision products.

The raw materials required for these high precision tubes are produced at the company’s own TMK-Resita plant in Romania, where a wide variety of steel grades are manufactured. At this plant, the products can be vacuum degassed and any impurities eliminated. In addition, nitrogen and hydrogen can also be greatly reduced to ensure that the products meet the most stringent demands of the world’s automotive and oil and gas industries. Integrated management system

Adding to the overall efficiency of its manufacturing processes, the company has also implemented and certified a highly efficient and fully integrated quality management system based on the latest ISO 9001 protocols and environmental management systems. According to ISO 14001, these certifications are maintained in addition to the company’s own work safety standard certification,

ISO 18001. These unique, integrated management systems are continuously maintained and developed via a process of on-going improvements and are independently audited. For many years, TMK has enjoyed strong market positions in the seamless pipes sector with its sales representing more than 10 per cent of the global market.

Today, TMK’s clients include leading automotive brands, as well as gas companies, such as Shell, ENI, Total, Exxon Mobile, Occidental Petroleum, Gazprom, Saudi Aramco and Lukoil among many others. The company’s major presence in world markets is secured by its extensive sales network that covers virtually all main global oil and gas producing regions in the US, Canada, Russia and the CIS, the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as South East Asia and subSaharan Africa. The company operates more than 30 manufacturing sites in the US. Canada, Romania, Oman and Kazakhstan.

For further details of TMK-Artrom’s high-precision seamless tubes and pipes visit: www.tmk-artrom.eu