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By: James O. Pennock

There will come a time the life of almost every project when the question of checking of pipe fabrication
shop spool drawings will come up. Projects that are totally field fabricated do not have shop spools and
therefore the need does not exist. However for the vast amount of the projects there will be a pipe
fabrication shop, shop spool drawings. Any time drawings are created there will be the potential for
errors. The shop is responsible for checking their own work, but it is prudent for the engineering
company to do their own check to verify that the shop is doing a proper job.

The prime objective for checking shop drawings is to eliminate (or reduce) field changes to shop
fabricated spools. One person cannot be expected to check ALL of the shop drawings and still meet the
construction schedule. So you must use your time wisely. You must have a plan. You should also talk to
the piping foreman in the field and ask him/her, what are some of the typical errors that cause them the
most problems during installation?

A) First, sort the shop drawings by line number and ͞cost groups͟ i.e.: separate by material, wall
schedule and line size. The reason you need to do this is that it will allow you to focus your effort on the
high cost piping. The most costly piping is the large diameter, heavy wall carbon steel, any alloy
materials and any material that requires post-weld-heat-treatment (PWHT). Start with the most costly
lines and their shop drawings.

B) Next, review the spool drawings for each line first for continuity. By this, I mean, do you have all the
shop drawings to complete ͞that͟ specific line? If the answer is ͞yes͟ then proceed. If the answer is ͞no͟
then have someone contact the shop to find out when the missing drawings will be available. It is always
possible that they forgot to draw one or to send one.

C) Next, check the drawings against the engineering drawings for configuration. By this I mean does the
line turn when, where and in the right direction to match the design? If not then this will require a
change in the shop (If the spool piece is not yet shipped) or a change in the field (if the spool piece has
already been shipped). Shop errors can, in most cases be back-charged to the shop. However, any error
can cause a delay to the schedule which adds cost to the project.

D) Next, review the material used against the piping line specification for the material that is required. If
the shop used the wrong material, STOP. This line or spool will need to be refabricated.

E) Next, review the shop drawings against the design looking for places where a wrong dimension in a
welded-out configuration would do the most harm. Don͛t worry about fitting make-up such as flange-
reducer-flange. These have a low possibility for error. Don͛t worry about spools that terminate with a
field weld. These have a built in opportunity to make a field correction.

F) Next, look for any place where there is a requirement for or the possibility for odd flange bolt-hole
rotations. Did the shop do it correctly? On the other hand, did the shop call for and fabricate an odd
bolt-hole rotation that was not called for?

G) Next, spot check 10% of the dimensions within each ͞cost group.͟ If you do not find any error trends
then you may want to consider backing off additional checking. However, if you do find an error trend
within a specific cost group (material, wall schedule, size, etc.) then note the name of the person who
did these high-error shop drawings. The next step is to notify the shop of your concerns and request that
they launch their own investigation. In the meantime notify the construction manager and based on the
͞cost groups͟ look at all of this persons work.

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By: James O. Pennock

On any process plant project the pipe fabrication shop should be recognized as a key player and a
partner in the success of that project. The performance of that shop can make or break a project. When
an engineering company is about to issue a pipe fabrication purchase order they should know
everything there is to know about the proposed shop. The engineering company should also consider all
the risk factors relating to the shop͛s performance and make every effort to eliminate or reduce those
risks. One of the ways to reduce the risk is to send a piping person into the shop to act as a focal point
for questions and to solve problems.

The information below includes information the company should know about a pipe fabrication shop
before an order is placed. It is also what the person needs to know about the shop and the pipe
fabrication purchase order before he or she starts an assignment in the pipe fabrication shop.

Shop Identification

What is the name and location (address) of the proposed pipe fabrication shop?

What is the ownership of this shop?

What is the organization chart (names and positions) for this shop?

What is the name and title of the primary shop contact for this order?

Shop history

What is the history of this shop?

What is the performance history for this shop?

Has the company contacted other companies (customers) who have had work in this shop?

Shop capabilities

How many production lines does this shop have and what is the break-down? Normally the different
production lines are arranged by size and material. The size breakdown is based on the respective jigs,
fixtures, cranes (or handling equipment), the welding procedures, the welding machines, the fitter and
welder training and experience. The material separation is to insure that Stainless Steel and other alloys
are not contaminated by carbon steel. Typically Stainless Steel lines will use nylon slings instead of chain
to lift the pipe spools.

The lines might be as follows:

- Small bore (3͟ and smaller) Carbon Steel

- Small bore (3͟ and smaller) Alloy & Stainless Steel

- Intermediate bore (4͟ through 12͟) Carbon Steel

- Intermediate bore (4͟ through 12͟) Alloy & Stainless Steel

- Large bore (14͟ and larger) Carbon Steel

- Large bore (14͟ and larger) Alloy & Stainless Steel

- Small bore Bends

- Large bore Bends

What other pipe fabrication related capabilities does this shop have (i.e.: expansion joint fabrication)?

The shop order

When will the shop order be placed?

What kind of other services (internal cleaning, priming, finished painting, etc.) does the shop fabrication
order include?

What kinds of piping (material, sizes and schedules) will this order cover?

Material

What is the shops standard stock categories (2͟ to 24͟ sch. 40 and 80 Carbon Steel only, etc.)?

Will the shop buy all material or will the company purchase and supply some piping and non-piping
material (i.e.: Thermowells)?

What is the material market͛s projected actual lead time for delivery of alloy and other non-standard
stock materials?

When will the ͞Buy͟ quality Bill-of-material summary be ready for issue?

What is the intended quality of this B-O-M summary?

Will there be a secondary MTO for shop material and an effective on-going program to identify new
shop material requirements?

Will there be limits applied to where the material comes from?

Schedule

When is the planned start of isometric issue?

What is the planned isometric issue duration?

When will the actual isometric issue start?

When will the company supplied material be delivered 100%?

When is the first pipe spool required at jobsite?

When is the last pipe spool required at jobsite?

Logistics

Where is the jobsite?

What is the planned method of shipping?

Concerns

What are my company͛s specific concerns relating to this shop͛s performance?

Problems that impact to pipe fabrication performance:

Below are some issues relating to execution, coordination, cost and delivery that the company should
address to reduce costs and improve delivery.

Unrealistic priority categories:

In the past some engineering companies have insisted on having multiple priority categories, twenty or
more, in some cases. This is just plain ludicrous. A shop, any shop has limited options for the handling of
normal work and ͞Priority͟ spool pieces. They in fact have only three options. The engineering company
needs to know and understand this and then keep things very simple.

Option 1: ͞FIFO͟ This means that all phases (engineering, material allocation, production, NDE, PWHT,
painting and shipping) are processed on a ͞first-in-first-out͟ (FIFO) basis. Engineering receives the
customer isometric and prepares the required shop spool drawings. They then do a material take-off to
check for material availability. If material is available then the spool drawing is released to the
production floor. From there it is scheduled into the normal flow of work on the basis of FIFO for that
specific (size/material) production line. This also means that the all work is done at the shop͛s normal
shift and work day hours. If the engineering company planned and scheduled their work properly and
they gave the shop the right information about the requirements for pipe fabrication then this option
should meet the needs of the order.

Option 2: ͞Fast track͟ (or ͞Head-of-the-line͟) This means that at all the normal work phases (listed
above) an isometric and the resultant pipe spools are moved to the head of the line at any effected work
station. This, however, still means that all work is done at the shop͛s normal shift and work day hours.
This option may or may not have a cost adder depending on how often it is imposed. It should not be
used for more than 5% to 8% of the total order.

Option 3: ͞Premium͟ This means that all of the normal phases are still done but at the ͞head-of-the-
line͟ basis AND the shop agrees to work 24 hours (three shifts at 8 hrs or two shifts of 12 hrs) to finish
the ͞premium͟ work. All extra costs (labor and utilities) incurred for ͞Premium͟ work is paid for by the
client. This option will indeed have a cost adder, and it will be significant. This option should not be used
for more than 2% to 3% of the total order.

Material surprises:
The late notice of new material requirements has a serious effect on the real engineering, fabrication
and delivery duration. How do late notices of new material happen? The most common reason this
happens is because material specs changed late in the project, long after the shop ͞Buy͟ MTO (Material
Take-off) was completed. Another reason it happens is because there is always more than one way to do
most things. The senior piper who planned on something being done one way (using specific material)
has a junior or a novice piper who does that thing another way (using different material). This does not
have a big impact on ͞shop stock͟ carbon steel material. However it does have a huge Impact on very
high cost, long delivery alloy materials. Keep in mind for some sizes and schedules of carbon steel it may
be possible to acquire and have delivery from over night to three weeks depending on where the shop is
located and where the source is located. On the other hand for materials like P22 and P91 the delivery
might be as much as 50 weeks or more.

An important thing to remember is that a shop will not and does not start fabrication on a piping ͞spool͛
unless and until they have all the required material for that ͞spool.͟ Here are two tables that shows the
impact that missing material may have on the overall delivery duration schedule (DDS). The numbers
shown here were taken from a real job.

Table A: All material pre-purchased and already available in the shop. (Numbers are in weeks)Material
Shop Eng. Matl delivery Fab PWHT DDS Total

Carbon Steel 3 0 6 0 9
(Std & XH)
Carbon Steel (> 3 0 8 0 11
XH)
Stainless Steel 3 0 8 0 11
Chrome Alloy 3 0 8 1 12
(Std & XH)
P91 3 0 12 1 16
Table B: Some (or all) material missing and needs to be obtained. (Numbers are in weeks)Material
Shop Eng. Matl delivery Fab PWHT DDS Total

Carbon Steel 3 3 6 0 12
(Std & XH)
Carbon Steel (> 3 20 8 0 31
XH)
Stainless Steel 3 20 8 0 31
Chrome Alloy 3 34 8 1 46
(Std & XH)
P91 3 50 12 1 66
As you can see there is a very big difference between the two delivery duration schedules. Having the
right material or not having the right material is the ͞Achilles͛ heel͟ of any shop fabrication effort. The
bottom line on this subject is that the piping lead engineer and the lead piping design supervisor in the
engineering office need to be on top of the projects piping material issues at all times. It is their job and
they need to understand what happens when they don͛t control or prevent this problem.
Large Pipe Bends:

(Here we are talking about large diameter/heavy wall pipe bends in pipe where the bend radius is more
than the standard 1-1/2 D 90 degree fitting ell.)

The effect of pipe bends on the production schedule can also have a major impact. To the shop a pipe
bend is just another piece of material, much like a fitting. The shop might have its own bending line but
it may be in another state, province or country. They need to have advance notice of all bend
requirements. The pipe to be used for the bend needs to be purchased, received, inspected, logged in to
the shops warehouse system then it needs to be scheduled into the bend shop. The pipe is then sent to
the bend shop (or line) where it is bent, checked for accuracy then ͞Stress relieved͟ (PWHT) and
returned to the fabrication shop for the balance of the operations required to finish the pipe spool.

The ideal approach where large bends are required is for the original ͞buy͟ MTO to include a summary
of these bends so the material can be purchased and bent ahead of time.

Engineering ͞Holds͟:

The effect on the shop schedule by company ͞HOLDS͟ on isometrics is a major problem. Consistently
the engineering company will issue piping isometrics to the shop then weeks later they call the shop and
place a ͞Hold͟ on the isometric and all the resulting spools. Keep in mind a typical isometric may contain
anywhere from three to five shop spools. When the isometric/shop spools is placed on a customer
͞Hold͟ the shop releases all the material contained on those spools for other spools. These shop spools
also lose their slot in the normal first-in-first-out flow of work.

Typically what happens is one of the following:

A) This isometric is mid-size standard weight carbon steel material. As a result the company forgets and
this isometric is on ͞Hold͟ for a few weeks. Then they remember the ͞Hold.͟ After some time they take
a new look at it and determine that there was no reason for the ͞Hold͟ and releases it. The company
then complains that these spools are behind schedule.

B) This isometric is also mid-size standard weight carbon steel material. The company keeps this
isometric on ͞Hold͟ for period of time while they do a redesign. The isometric is then revised and
released with the ͞Hold͟ removed. The shop now finds out that there is a minor dimensional change to
only one of the spools on this isometric. Again the company complains that all these shop spools are
behind schedule.

C) The company revises the isometric and proceeds to issue it in the normal manner. This isometric falls
in the realm of the 34 to 50 week material delivery. The revision contains material that is ͞new͟ or not
previously included in the ͞Buy͟ MTO. The shop can do nothing but order the ͞new͟ material and place
the effected spool at the back of the line. The engineering company now starts to complain that the
spools should only take 16 weeks to fabricate.
D) In this case all (6+/-) isometrics (and the resulting shop spools) for a complete system were placed on
͞Hold͟ with no reason given. The material this time was small bore stainless steel. The SS material was
included in the original ͞Buy͟ MTO and was purchased and delivered to the shop. The ͞Hold͟ put a stop
to all work on these isometrics for many months. The ͞Hold͛ was initiated by a controversy about the
material ͞life͟ in the alleged strong corrosive atmosphere. When the isometrics were finally revised and
reissued the new material was a special Alloy 20 with a 50 week delivery. The service for this piping was
the same as what is found around the average swimming pool for the chlorine system which uses plastic
piping. They could have installed plastic pipe and replaced it every year for the next fifty years for far
less than what this new material and the delay cost the project.

What is the answer to the problem created by late ͞Holds͟ by the engineering company? The easy
answer is to disallow all ͞Holds͟ on shop spools. To do this the engineering company must do a number
of things. They must do a better job of controlling the work on the design floor, Do It Once and Do It
Right. They can also look at making any required changes in the field wherever possible. After all there
are a lot of field welds all ready and a few more will not make as much of an impact on the field as it
would on the shop. Some may cry Oh! You can͛t do that! Well I suggest that you can and should. They
can also do a better job of communicating with the shop when there is no choice but to place a ͞Hold.͟
They need to fully define the reason for the ͟Hold͟ and what if any effect the potential change will have
on material.

Specialty Fitting Dimensions:

Dimensional differences in high-cost, long delivery fittings (WOL) at fitting make-up situations can cause
major problems. The example I site has 8, 24͟ X 10͟ P91 Weld-O-Lets required for installations that were
designed for fitting-to fitting. There was no flexibility for adjustment of dimensions. Six of the O-Lets
came in from the manufacturer with the height dimension as stated in the catalog. Two of them were
different from the catalog. The catalog dimension and the dimension used by the design team was 9.͟
One of the O-Lets had an 8͟ height and the other had a 10͟ height. This 1͟ short and 1͟ too long caused
a major problem. The manufacturer claimed that there was no requirement for them to make all the O-
Lets (of this size) at 9͟ and they would not warrantee the O-Lets if the shop modified them to fit. The
suggested solution to this is to find out what fittings/dimensions are used in the design (and the
electronic data base

Customer Furnished Items:

Many shop fabrication orders include ͞customer͟ furnished items of material. Sometimes it is special
alloy material and sometimes it is specific material items such as valves or weld-in Thermowells.
Normally it is not a big problem for the shop to receive, warehouse and dispense this material. However
there are methods used in the identification and purchase of this material that can and does cause
major delays for the shop.

The example that I have seen is where the ͞customer͟ furnished material was purchased with a specific
͞Tag͟ number identification. This ͞Tag͟ number item could only go in one specific place. Conversely only
the correctly ͞Tag͟ number item could be installed in a specific pipe spool. This means that the shop
must find that specific ͞Tag͟ number item before they can release that specific pipe spool to the
production floor.

Here is the story. The ͞customer͟ company purchased over 500 weld-in Thermowells for a pipe
fabrication order. They had the thermowell manufacturer mark each well with a specific instrument
͞Tag͟ number. They were then shipped to the shop in small groups of 100+/- to 150+/- as they were
completed. These groupings were received at different times, by different people and stored in different
places in the warehouse. When a shop material person was sent to find a specific ͞Tag͟ number
thermowell and did not look in all the right places thus not finding it, he or she stopped looking. A
material shortage report was then turned in and a delay was created.

This did not have to happen. These 500+ thermowells, although they had over 500 individual ͞Tag͟
number identifications came in only 5 sizes. Thermowells come in three basic types. These types have to
do with how they are installed in the piping system. There are:

A) Threaded wells for the normal low temperature and low pressure, non-toxic commodities. These are
installed in the field.

B) There are flanged thermowells (in various ratings) that are used for higher temperature, higher
pressure and more hazardous commodities. These flanged wells are also normally installed in the field.

C) Then there are the weld-in thermowells. These are used on very high temperature, very high pressure
and or very toxic commodities. These wells are the only ones that would normally be installed in the
pipe fabrication shop.

Now all these thermowell types no matter whether they are threaded or flanged or welded-in they have
one thing in common. That is they come in only a limited number of sizes. The sizing of all thermowells is
based on the ͞U͟ dimension and the "stem length. The ͞U͟ dimension is the distance the well protrudes
into the pipe past the base of the threads (threaded well), flange face (flanged well) or the inside
diameter of the pipe (welded-in well). The 500+ thermowells in the example we are talking about here
broke down to only one type (weld-in) and only five (5) sizes. They could have and should have been
bought as a bulk item by the five sizes and identified on the isometric as just a ͞type/U-dimension/stem
length͟ code. This would have had a great impact on the ability of the shop to find material and release
spools faster.

The bottom line here is to keep it simple, buy everything as bulk material when ever possible.

Missing Engineering Data:

All information required to fabricate a pipe spool should be included on the isometric. That is a great
statement and should be valid with only one exception. That exception would be the piping material
specification that defines the specifics about the material on an isometric. That is fine; the pipe specs
are sometimes the size of a small automobile. It is accepted practice for the shop people to have a full
copy of the pipe specs and use them.
However there is other information required by the shop that should be included on the isometric
rather than having to find it among documents they are not familiar with. This information includes
which lines need post weld heat treatment and the maximum operating temperature which impacts the
type of post weld heat treatment.

What is happening here is that the engineering company sends a line list (or line designation table) or
other document to the shop and expects the shop to find the required information. The problem was
that the shop was not familiar with these other documents and did not always have the current revision.
Isometrics had been issued for lines that were not on the line list.

Partial Painting:

Some engineering companies ask the shop to do partial painting of pipe spools. This is sometimes done
when a line will have safety insulation (therefore no paint) where it could be touched and painted where
it cannot be touched. It also includes the carbon steel shoes on alloy or carbon steel lines that will be
insulated. Trust me the shop will be more than happy to do this partial painting. And, trust this, they will
charge you a hefty price for it.

Painting of pipe spools is based on the weight of the total spool, not the square foot or meter of area
painted. For total painting they normally have a flat rate price per ton. For partial painting they will
discount the rate to (not by) 65% to 80% of the total rate. This means that you pay 65% to 80% of the
full spool painting cost to paint only one 24͟ long shoe.

This is not cost effective. There is always going to be painting touch-up in the field and shoes can be
painted there at a far cheaper cost.

Paint Touch-up:

Another costly item is requiring paint touch-up of ͞dings͟ by shop prior to shipping. Pipe that is (fully)
painted by the shop can and will get dings before the truck leaves the yard. Some engineering
companies require the shop to touch-up these dings before the load leaves the yard. This is also not cost
effective. The load is held in the shop until it can be inspected for dings and then they are touched up
and re-inspected. This only delays the shipment and the load is going to get more dings in route. It will
also get more while being unloaded, during storage in the field prior (to installation) and during handling
at installation.

The most cost effective way to handle dings in shop painted piping is as follows. First, at every step
along the line do everything possible to prevent dings. Second, don͛t reach for the paint brush every
time you spot a ding. Third, after installation, when all the field welds are being painted, go ahead and
touch up those dings.

Pipe spool mark-numbers:

Every fabricated pipe spool that leaves the shop must be identified for proper and timely installation.
Who is responsible for the spool piece identification numbers? Every company has its own methods of
operation and therefore some will add the MK number as a part of the isometric extraction process and
others may produce plans and elevations then have the shop do the identification numbers. This
identification is sometimes called the ͞Mark-number͟ and is normally shown as MK ʹ * (numbered in
sequence). The MK number is normally preceded by the purchase order (PO) number for the shop
fabrication work, the line number (or the isometric number) and the sheet number. Therefore, for
example the first pipe spool for line number 10-122A1A on PO # 9876543-2 would be P.O. 9876543-2 ʹ
10-122A1A-Sht 1 - MK -1. This is a very simple identification method and if it is on every spool the field
has no problems. However, what if you are on a job that has over 10,000 individual pipe spools and
many (maybe all) arrived in the field not marked with the proper identification. This has happened! It is
a very costly process in the field to sort out what the spool piece number is supposed to be. The delay is
costly in both money and schedule. A clear understanding needs to be established between the design
office and the shop, before the order is placed, as to what MK number method is to be used and who is
responsible for initiating and controlling the numbers.

In closing, learn everything you can about the pipe fabrication shop and look for and question any item
or activity that may have a negative impact on the cost and delivery of the finished spools.