Piping company that cannot read Isometrics... Really??

[marvelade]

Hey All,

Just wanted to run this by you guys to see if I'm wrong about how popular isometrics are in piping.

We have a specific piece of rather complex piping that we need prefab'd. We sent out drawings for a price quote which had the exact pieces of piping on them as ISO's, broken down into 15-20 pieces. Each piece was for example an end of pipe with 2 bends, next drawing would be an end of pipe with a tee and a flange, next drawing: an end of pipe with a cutback elbow; stuff like that.

We especially broke it down into many simple pieces so they'd have an easy job counting the pieces and the welds for making a price quote. A BOM was included on each ISO to facilitate the piece-counting process even more.


Now, 5 days after sending them the drawings, we get a response that there is not enough detail for them to prepare a price quote.


Am I expecting too much when I expect a piping company to be able to read a set of simple isometrics?


Best regards,
Marv

[pipingdesigners]

Am I expecting too much when I expect a piping company to be able to read a set of simple isometrics?

Short answer: No

Long Answer:
No
But ....... and I'm only asking 'cos I don't know you, and you didn't go into a lot of detail as to the nature of these iso's.

Have you asked what sort of drawings they usually quote from?
How complex is this arrangement?
Are all the iso's numbered and referenced back to one another? (To / from)
Is the North arrow consistant across the Iso's?
Did you break them down too much, making the reassembly complex?
Are there many field welds to be carried out after shop fab?
Would have a plan helped them figure it out?
Is the material particularly exotic or and odd (not off the shelf) size?

Regardless of this, they should have been in a position immediately to say, we can give you a provisional quote of $x, based on some assumptions, and then clarify any issues and give a firm quote.

I'd be very interested in finding out why they couldn't quote!

Just a thought ..... it was a pipe fabricator you sent it to, and not the local bakery? ;)

Cheers,

pipingdesigners

[marvelade]

Hi there PipingDesigners; thanks for your reply.

I'll put my answers between your questions:


- Have you asked what sort of drawings they usually quote from?
No, I just assumed that ISO's were the industry standard

- How complex is this arrangement?
Pretty complex, but they also received a 3D view where all the iso-dwg numbers were noted and in different colors for clarity

- Are all the iso's numbered and referenced back to one another? (To / from)
No, but the assembly drawing is very clear on that


- Is the North arrow consistant across the Iso's?
Yes

- Did you break them down too much, making the reassembly complex?
We need the 18 pieces as pieces. Assembly is done on site by another piping company (they don't want to travel to the site; too far so they only do pre assembly)


- Are there many field welds to be carried out after shop fab?
Yes, but they are to be done by another company as said before

Would have a plan helped them figure it out?
- They have an assembly; I'm not sure what you mean?


- Is the material particularly exotic or and odd (not off the shelf) size?
Size isn't; material is; but they specialize in this kind of material so that shouldn't be a problem. Anyway their concern with making a price quote was not having enough detail regarding dimensions and angles, while they are all clearly noted on the ISO.



Best regards,
Marv

[pipingdesigners]

Hi Marv,

Given what you have said there, I can't see why they wouldn't / couldn't prepare a price quote.

As far as I can tell they were either too busy, and used that as an excuse, or someone there is not up to the task .... very odd either way.

Time to find some one else I think .... but I would press them on what they felt they needed you to give them, in order for a quote.

Anton