The group first visited Inductabend, where they were warmly greeted by Managing Director Barry Crouch. Mr Crouch introduced them to the Inductabend team before giving a presentation on the basics of induction bending. He explained what induction bending – or hot bending – is, why it is needed and how it can be used in the pipeline industry, what the process involves, and the importance of maintaining the pipeline’s material properties during bending.

Mr Crouch and General Manager John Rea then took the group to the main factory area to see the process in action. Mr Crouch and Mr Rea also showed the group the control panel, explaining how crucial it is to monitor the process parameters to ensure that the bend is being made correctly.

In Dandenong, the group ran through a brief site induction before following host Raymond to the main site. He took the group around to various areas, including the tanker loading station, the vapourisers, the odouriser station and to the LNG tank itself. Raymond explained that APA provides two main services: to store LNG and to provide it to retailers during times of high demand in a practice called ‘peak shaving’.

After the tour, the YPFers took a break and networked over lunch, which was provided by APA. This was followed by a presentation by General Manager – Transmission Ed De Prinse who described the large gas transmission network APA owns and manages, and some of its current projects.

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Many thanks to APA Group and Inductabend for welcoming the YPFers to their sites, to Sargent for providing the bus, and to sponsor Tenix for making the visits possible.