Gasket manufacturer and supplier Klinger Mzansi, part of the Klinger group, has developed a joint integrity programme that has improved the safety standards on clients work sites, reports Klinger Mzansi MD David Halstead.

Klinger Mzansi gasket product manager Deon van der Walt explains the reasons for establishing the programme. “Initially we established the programme because we saw a necessity to add value to the company’s product range. We moved from being a gasket manufacturer to include the installation and hydraulic bolt tightening of flanged assemblies.

“Best practice would dictate that a bolted joint is one of many critical components of a pressurised system, which is dependent on the contents and pressure of the system. Leakage or failure of the bolted joint can have catastrophic consequences in terms of safety, environmental issues, down time and product losses. The driving force behind the programme became the need for plant owners to increase the integrity levels on bolted joints from both a safety and a cost perspective,” says van der Walt.

Klinger Mzansi notes that the programme is enforced using a phased approach.

The company initially assesses the criticality of the flanges. The company will then study the design of the joint as far as gasket, flanges and bolts are concerned. After the studying process Klinger Mzansi will then determine which tightening methods will suit the application, taking torque parameters into consideration. “At this stage we install the gasket and assemble the joint using selected hydraulic equipment,” says van der Walt.

Halstead notes that although the joint integrity programme is not unique to Klinger Mzansi, as far as he is aware, Klinger Mzansi is the only gasket manufacturing company in the country that has such a programme.

Klinger Mzansi is currently involved in a project along with a local engineering group on a uranium plant close to Klerksdorp in the North West Province.

Halstead reports that Klinger Mzansi supplied soft cut gaskets, spiral gaskets, and polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) gaskets for pipeline and vessel application. “The spiral gaskets that we supplied to the engineering company were assembled of stainless steel and titanium. Because of that there was a lead-time of between 12 and 14 weeks,” says Halstead. He adds that the Klinger Mzansi was able to supply the gaskets to the engineering company on time.

“Klinger Mzansi is using a phased approach with this project. We are in the end stages of phase two and are expecting to start on phase three within the next few weeks,” he says.

Klinger Mzansi also holds a vendor contract for the supply of gaskets to the largest petrochemical company in South Africa. The gaskets supplied to the company will be for pipeline and equipment applications. “The requirements of the company are such that it was necessary to establish two sites. One on site at the company’s Secunda operation and the other just outside the company’s site in Sasolburg in the Free State,” says Halstead. He adds that Klinger Mzansi is expected to maintain minimum and maximum stock levels that are able to supply the needs of the petrochemical company.

According to Halstead, Klinger Mzansi was awarded the contract in 2004 to supply the company with their gasket requirements.

Meanwhile, Klinger Mzansi has recently completed a project where the company was working in conjunction with an engineering contractor on the installation of higher capacity reactors at a refinery. Klinger Mzansi became involved in the project because of a need to supply a custom-designed gasket owing to the high temperatures and pressures of the reactors, and the necessity to hydraulically torque various flanges.

Klinger Mzansi has four main product divisions. The company manufactures gasket sheet jointing, pump and valve gland packing, gaskets, and millboards for the local industry. The company is part of the Klinger group of International companies whose Head Office is based in Switzerland. Klinger was established in 1886 and has built up a global network that includes 15 manufacturing centres worldwide. Klinger first started in South Africa in 1967 and has through the amalgamation of different companies, become Klinger Mzansi. Most recently Klinger acquired the largest supplier of gaskets and sealing products in the Western Cape, Wright-Seal and Plastics, affording it the opportunity to add value to the end user market in that region.