NSF International was founded in 1944 with the mission of protecting and improving global human health. NSF International is a global independent and accredited organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products, providing education and risk management for the food, water and consumer goods industries. As a market leader in the area of plastic pipe testing and product certification, NSF establishes whether customers’ materials meet the various industry requirements.
NSF International’s pipe test lab uses IPT Airless Pressure Testers and IptDataLogging test data management software. Data communication is performed automatically via Pipeson software. Software from IPT and Pipeson are used to facilitate test data management, data communication and data evaluation.
“The integration of IptDataLogging and the Pipeson software suite has increased the efficiency of our lab. Previously the task of updating all projects was a manual process that took several hours. Now that the procedure is automated we update all running projects each morning, which means that our customers always have access to the most recent data. Automation also ensures 100% data integrity,” says Laura Schell, Principal Engineer.
“Having access to data that is updated on a daily basis also makes it easier for our lab staff to be proactive. They can identify trends that may become issues in the future at an early stage. Another significant benefit is that those of our customers who use the Pipeson software have 24/7 online access to the most recently updated test data.
Customized software solution
NSF International implemented the complete Pipe Data Flow System in 2013 and since then a number of new features have been developed in order to meet their specific data evaluation and data communication needs.
“Since the implementation we have worked closely with Pipeson in order to customize the solutions to our particular needs. It has been an enjoyable and efficient process and I have often had a draft of the feature I have requested within a week.”
Future proof test data communication
Pipeson’s online service, in combination with IPT software, is an integral part of a ‘future proof’
testing service.
“We move in the direction of considering it the most natural thing in the world to have instant access
to what we need when we need it. Test data is not an exception to this rule.”
Wavin Technology & Innovation has over 40 years of experience in plastic products and manufacturing processes. Wavin T&I manages and executes product and process development from first idea to production start. The laboratory of Wavin T&I offers specialized services and facilities for testing of plastic materials, products and systems in accordance with national and international standards. In 1991 the laboratory was accredited by the Dutch Council for Accreditation (RvA), this accreditation is based on the standard ISO/IEC 17025. This means that the laboratory is independent and that the test results are traceable, reliable and confidential. Wavin T&I has been a Pipeson partner since 2009.
Wavin T&I manages and executes product and process development in the area of plastics; all the way from the idea stage to production.
”Pipeson Analyzer makes us more efficient and innovative. We also appreciate that Pipeson continuously works to develop the software to meet our specific needs”, says Marc Bunskoek, Laboratory Wavin T&I.
Materials to meet standards
Wavin uses Pipeson Analyzer for full ISO 9080 evaluations of new materials and also to make preliminary lifetime predictions based on limited data sets.
”Pipeson Analyzer provides us with a good overview of all the requirements for the different standards. One of the most significant benefits of the software is that the regression lines can be saved in the Line manager and applied in the Line lifetime view and Compare view”, says Marc. ”After the data evaluations have been completed it’s very convenient to use the automatically generated tables and graphs for our reports. All data and settings are saved in the file, so we can also use the file to distribute project information between different Wavin sites and departments”, he continues.
Optimized workflow
In 2014 Wavin implemented the Pipe Data Flow System.
“Following the implementation we have achieved a new level of efficiency. We manage both current and historical data in the Pipeson Data Manager making it readily available to the people who need access to it. We set up new projects in IptDataLogging and use Pipeson Data Manager to make automatic data updates. This saves us a lot of time and we know that all the data is correct.”
Dow Europe is the leading provider of PE-RT materials that are used in a wide variety of applications. Different applications mean different requirements in design, which adds complexity to the testing. Today Dow uses Pipeson Analyzer all over the world as a tool for product- and application development and technical support.
”Pipeson Analyzer is a useful tool and our product development and technical service teams often use the regression analyses provided by testing institutes to perform new calculations. It’s much less time consuming than to work in Excel”, says Alex Stolarz, Development Engineer Pipe Applications.
”We work with both new test data and the results of completed ISO 9080 evaluations. Analyzer adds control and provides us with a better overview of our projects. It also makes it possible for us to compare the performance of different materials and formulations”, says Alex.
Easier to assess lifetime of materials
The ’line lifetime’ functionality makes it faster to assess the lifetime for both standardized and non-standardized end user applications.
”Our materials are often used for multilayer pipe system and the multilayer functionality in Analyzer is a great tool. We can provide our customers with good answers to their questions and they can also come to more conclusions on their own”, says Alex Stolarz.
User-friendly software
”We really appreciate the user friendliness and the automatic functions. Analyzer has been a great investment so far. We also really appreciate that testing institutes offer online access 24/7 directly in Pipeson Analyzer using the Pipeson platform. It saves us time and allows us to monitor the status and progress in our projects in an efficient way”, Alex Stolarz.
Borealis is a leading provider of plastics solutions for the pipe industry with more than 50 years’ experience in advanced polyolefins. Utilizing the own developed Borstar® technology, Borealis focus on providing plastic materials to the infrastructure markets across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. For infrastructure pipes and fittings Borealis focus areas are; water supply systems, sewerage systems, plumbing & heating systems and pipeline protection systems. Through a continuous dialogue with customers and stakeholders, Borealis develop and broaden their innovative product and service portfolios.
”We have used Analyzer since 2008 in our Innovation Centers in Austria, Sweden and Finland to support our research and development work”, says Kurt Stubenrauch, Head of Competence Centre Polyolefin Design & Conversion.
Useful around the organization
Borealis is a leading provider of plastics solutions for the pipe industry and works with many different pressure pipe- and fitting materials such as PE, PEX, PP-R and PP-RCT. Different functionalities of Analyzer are used in different parts of the organization.
”The Application Development & Technical Service Team uses the Pipeson Analyzer to show pipe pressure test data to our customers. Research and development uses the ’compare’ functionality to visualize the performance of different materials. Application Development and Technical Service perform regression analyses to predict lifetimes and to classify new materials. The ’line lifetime’ functionality is also useful to us for assessing the lifetime for different service conditions”, says Kurt.
Make the most of the data
”Pipeson Analyzer makes it possible to quickly evaluate pipe pressure test data which allows us to put the data to better use. Analyzer also makes it easy for us to distribute different data files, graphs, tables with results and reports, both between the different Borealis locations but also to our customers”, says Kurt Stubenrauch.
