Industrial flanges and pipe fittings comply with standard dimensions – ANSI, API etc. This means companies like us at Chemipetro can easily supply flanges to companies across the world, and industrial plants can run with quiet efficiency – so long as the components are made to set standards of compatibility.

Industrial pipe flanges are used in many important areas, apart from the petrochemical industry. One in particular, the shipbuilding industry, shows the importance of installing compatible pipe fittings.

Modern shipbuilding is done in “blocks,” outsourcing different parts of the operation to different companies. Standardised systems of measurement are used, making ordering of stock quick and economical – so long as the same standards are applied across the entire outsourcing network.

This once wasn’t the case in the US Navy. A 1990 National Shipbuilding Research Program paper described how US ships installed a combination of pipe flanges – often in the same system. Commercial (ANSI) and Navy pipe flanges (Mil-Spec) were almost identical in terms of pipe sizes, pressure ratings, alloys etc. However, their physical dimensions – thickness, diameter bolt holes etc – made them totally incompatible with each other. The valves, pumps etc using those flanges were likewise unique.

This led to confusion for the installers, logistics and operations staff. It also meant very large ship stores, as the only answer was to provision two flange systems on each ship. The NSRP saw that non-compatibility was a serious problem, and streamlined the system by eliminating either Navy or ANSI flanges to create a standardised protocol. But until then, the costs – not to mention wasted man hours – were crippling.