Offshore Oil has always used an A106 C specification with a 50,000 lb minimum yield for its crane drums. The challenge has always been that A106C has a min yield standard of 40,000 PSI. Tubular Steel (TSI) met this requirement in the past for Offshore by searching through its inventory to find A106 C material that exceeded traditional specifications and met Offshore's requirements. TSI's searchable on-line database of Mill Test Reports (MTRs) made it simple to find a heat number that met the 50,000 PSI yield requirement. Unfortunately, that material was not always available at TSI's Houston Texas facility, necessitating additional freight costs and delays to Offshore's production schedule.

As part of their customer quality requirements, and its own continuous improvement efforts, Offshore continually sought ways to improve quality and reduce the time required for delivery. As a strategic material partner to Offshore, TSI was part of those efforts. Sourcing material for the crane drums was identified as a critical opportunity for improvement.

TSI's long history serving the oil industry, in particular with off-shore platforms, resulted in a recognition five years ago of the consistent trend towards insuring higher performance, on a more consistent basis, and generally increasing capacity to meet industry demands. In addition, wherever possible, TSI sought to identify material that could meet industry standard specifications, while reducing weight and thus the cost to fabricate and deploy off-shore equipment.

TSI partnered with US Steel to create a proprietary chemistry, TSI-003, that would provide higher yields (55,000 lb +) while covering multiple specifications (ASTM, ASME, 106 B and C). Working closely with US Steel gave users the assurance of quality, from a domestic supplier, so critical in many applications.

Since 1952 Tubular Steel, Inc. has provided expertise in tube and pipe products to fabricators and manufacturers throughout the United States. TSI has eight facilities located strategically throughout the country. TSI carries a diverse inventory of hard to find as well as common sizes. Its reliability as a supplier has made TSI a critical materials partner for over 8000 customers.