Innovation and sharing in Houston: Vallourec’s threading community discusses benchmarking and added value
The 17th BAM (Benchmark Annual Meeting), the major annual event for Vallourec’s worldwide threading community, took place last October in Houston, US. Over the course of an entire week, the 80 members of the community had the opportunity not only to visit the Group’s two Texas plants, but also and above all connect with their peers, attend various presentations and take home the year’s best practices in three categories: safety, quality and cost & performance.
Each year, the BAM provides an opportunity for all members of the threading community to come together, share best practices and contribute to Vallourec's industrial excellence, first and foremost addressing health and safety challenges on threading lines. The Houston 2023 edition breathed new energy into all these key players, who are implementing multiple initiatives in all the Group's plants. It also raised the bar for North American threading units, who benefited for a week from the long experience of many members of the community.
Being together in Houston was also a great opportunity to exchange best practices, both technical and organizational, essential to ensuring plant performance. Participants were also able to discuss and support the VAM USA Operations & Services and Vallourec USA South Mass production teams on how best to meet their daily challenges by adopting a solid Gemba* approach.
Safety and efficiency at the heart of North American industrial operations
At Hardy rd plant, the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) at the couplings shop and the digital logsheet increase productivity and guarantee the quality of our couplings and large OD integrals VAM® products.
At Sheldon rd plant, the presentation of the lathes closed door project [aimed at guaranteeing the operational safety of threading lathes by keeping their access closed but without impacting the industrial performance of production lines], coupled with a camera located inside the lathe demonstrates how to achieve the highest safety standards for our operators and to optimize staff in our operations.
At Miller rd plant, the presentation of coupling pre-screwing device and the mobile pipe assist highlight how the plants keep up with fast pace, without compromising ergonomics or exposing operators to the line of fire.
The BAM 2023 in Houston once again underlined the importance of exchange, discussion and dissemination of ongoing advances within our threading community. This year, we enjoyed record participation from our global experts, operational managers and colleagues. New solutions in safety, quality, performance, cost, technology and innovation were shared, ready to be implemented on our production lines to ensure Vallourec's distinctive technological excellence.
*Literally, Gemba is a Japanese word meaning “where reality is”, that is, the place where everything happens, where value is created and where problems emerge too!
