Smartflex is a single and double wall fuel pipework brand by Nupi Industrie Italiane S.p.A.
This company, which started as a family business, now has 6 factories and several warehouses around the world, including one here in the UK and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The success of the company is owed to a constant focus on quality and improving on its products and installation methods.
Nupi makes pipes, fittings, sumps, manhole covers, welding machines and tools; all in-house to ensure full quality control.
The Smartflex multifunctional welding machine is the only one of its kind in the service station sector, and offers a 3 step control of the installation: before, during and after the installation.
- Before: only certified installers can operate the welding machine.
The welding unit simply won’t operate unless the installer has a certified welding card issued by a Nupi certified instructor. The training is simple and all the certified installers are registered on Nupi’s website. - During: the welding unit performs several tests during the welding process:
It measures outside temperature via a built-in thermostat and automatically adjusts the welding time accordingly. When dealing with plastic materials, temperature is important and needs to be taken into an account to ensure a strong, leak proof joint.
The welding unit does this job automatically, which saves time for the installer.
It works with a bar code system. All fittings have barcodes on them with fitting information (type and dimension) and welding parameters (voltage, and time). By scanning the barcode, the machine automatically sends the info to the machine and the electrofusion process can start.
In case of a problem, the machine will stop and report a problem on its display. This tells the installer what the problem is and how to fix it. By doing that, a potential problem is discovered instantly before the pipe is buried.
Control Parameter (Fitting Electrical Resistance) – makes it impossible to make mistake; scanning one fitting and welding, as the fitting resistance is different for each type. This is very important safety feature that really improves on the quality of the installation.
In addition the fitting bar code contains these 2 quality features:
- a) Raw Material type and batch number, production facility – enables Nupi to track each fitting back to manufacturing facility, thus constantly controlling the quality
- b) Traceability code: an additional option that works with a GPS unit, to enable locating of the fittings, once they are buried in the ground.
- After installation: welding and pressure test report
The SMARTFLEX welding unit is the only one in the forecourt market that offers the full welding and pressure test report of the installation. Both reports can be easily downloaded on a PC via USB stick and printed from any printer or saved and used in e-form.
The welding report has information on every single fitting that was installed: type, size, welding parameters, including also the information about the site, outside temperature, date and time and the certified installer.
The new model of the Smartflex welding machine, offers also instant cloud storage at the time of the installation, thus ensuring no data will be lost.
The Smartflex machine also has integrated software that allows pressure testing, in connection with Smartflex pressure test unit. The two machines work together and the pressure test is operated via pressure test cards, provided by Nupi. Up to eight lines can be tested at one time. The welding machine pressures the pipework to the required pressure/time and gives the full report of the test.
As a result of 3 step safety procedure, Nupi is able to give 30 year warranty on its pipework that is followed with an Liability insurance policy of up to 12 mil euros per occurrence.
Here’s what some key customers said about it:
Edward Wheeler, Eurotank Group Managing Director
“Nupi’s Smartflex welder is the next generation of welding machines, which adds a new dimension to pipework installations. With other pipework systems, there is no record of who completed the welds, whether they were successful and whether they were trained. The Smartflex welding machine fixes all these problems.
“One of the main reasons for premature failure of plastic pipe work systems, is under welding of fittings due to the incorrect welding times being selected by the installer. The Smartflex welder and barcode scanning system stops that from happening. In addition to this, the welder promotes a good quality installation through the traceability of each weld and who did it.
“An installer is much more likely to prepare the pipe properly, if they know that a future fail can be directly linked to them. From a customer’s point of view, the welding report and installer training card with bar code scanner, ensures that any failures due to installation can be acted upon, with persistent offenders, either forced to retrain or banned from completing pipe work installs on their network all together!
“Some of our customers would love to know who installed certain fittings on pipework systems that have failed after a short period of time, but there is no traceability with any of the other pipework systems!”
Matt Daglish, Kidderminster Petroleum Services Ltd, Installations Director
“We have been using SMARTFLEX welding unit and pipework for several years. The technology that this machine offers is far superior to anything else available on the market. Customers love it, as it gives them the full report of the installation. The installers like it as it makes it easy for them to use and gives them the confidence that the job is done well. Transferring data via USB is easy and I can get a full welding report on my PC in seconds. I am happy with both the welding unit and the quality of piping system, and I intend to use them for years to come”
For more information about Smartflex pipework system,
please contact our European Sales Manager: maja.nedic@nupinet.com
or visit: www.nupiindustrieitaliane.com
