Speeding Up Production

Firm draws on Swagelok distributor to speed up assembly of sampling systems, streamline procurement, and save

One of Swagelok's clients is Imtech Analyser Systems, one of the largest technical services providers in the UK and Ireland. They are leaders in mechanical and electrical engineering, technical facilities management, automation control, and real-time IT solutions. In 2017, they won the ECA Large Contractor of the Year Award.

Swagelok is available in more than 70 countries through 225 sales and service centers. One such center has supplied key Imtech facilities with Swagelok fluid system components for 30+ years.

From supplier to partner

A few years back, Imtech won a contract to design, engineer, and build 18 analyzer houses with 250 sampling systems for the oil and gas industry. It had 12 months to complete the analyzer houses job, and leadership needed to ensure things went smoothly.

While upholding Imtech's industry-leading quality standards, it aimed to:

• Speed up production time on the 250 sampling systems with no reduction in quality
• Make sure the right Swagelok parts were in Imtech's inventory at the right time, without buying and storing bulk quantities
• Free installers from tracking their own inventories, filling out re-orders, and calculating delivery deadlines

Imtech needed more than quality fluid system parts; it needed a partner.

Speeding up sampling system assembly

Imtech was offered a fresh idea: prepackaged kits full of specific Swagelok parts for each sampling system. Each kit contained specified Swagelok ball valves, change-over manifold regulators, hoses, preassembled stream selector valves, tube fittings, preassembled pressure regulators, automated valve assemblies, manifolds, and various custom-made products.

With the prepackaged kits, Imtech's in-house team would be able to do its job faster while being meticulous about quality. Because of the way Swagelok parts and assemblies are produced, Swagelok stands behind each of its parts and each of its assemblies with an industry-leading Limited-Lifetime Warranty.

Making sure the right parts are on hand

Imtech was also provided with an innovative inventory solution that allowed automatic restocking of replacement parts within agreed parameters and rules. To reduce costs and speed up production times, Swagelok installed a 24/7 electronic vendor managed inventory (VMI) dispenser on-site. This not only ensured security but also eliminated product tracking issues.

The VMI machine, which worked even quicker than just-in-time delivery, allowed Imtech engineers the freedom to select any components they needed, when they needed them, while ensuring proper product tracking and eliminating the stress of delivery times.

Holding down costs and delivering value

At the end of the project, the Swagelok team quantified the impact of the value-added supply chain and assembly solutions services for Imtech. The report detailed Imtech's savings from Swagelok's services including kitting and assembly plus implementing the electronic VMI dispenser.

Imtech’s Senior Buyer Johan La Grand was particularly impressed with our time-saving initiatives. “Swagelok’s kitting and assembly solutions service gave us everything we needed for the sampling systems,” he said, “right when we needed it. We didn’t have to buy stock in bulk, our installers didn’t have to compile their own individual inventories, and the pre-packaged kits were delivered to the door, on time. It was the ideal solution.”

You can get help like this too. Visit the Assembly Services page to learn more.