Confusing a butterfly valve with a check valve
Thread Content
It was a thing that happened a very, very long time ago. Am I, Old Liu, really getting old? I keep talking about things from the past. An old colleague from the procurement department called me and asked why there was no butterfly valve in the purchase order for a water treatment system he was handling There are quite a few check valves. He wasn’t familiar with the design manager, so he didn’t feel comfortable asking directly. I am familiar with the design manager; I reviewed the process and checked the specifications. It turns out that the designer is a novice and cannot distinguish between butterfly valves and check valves in the process – he has usually used gate valves and globe valves in the past, having never used butterfly valves. He was puzzled himself – why were there so many check valves on the water system diagram? The project had a tight deadline, and during the review no one paid attention to these low-pressure valves. Hurry up and modify the purchase order; thankfully, no mistakes were made.
This really deserves praise; isn’t there anyone to do any oversight? I remember during a previous bidding process, a colleague who had graduated about two years earlier was chatting with me, and there were many copper pipes involved. I just said ‘O’, after all, I didn’t participate. So I asked, and he brought over the drawing; upon taking a look, it was Cooper Cameron, not Copper.
During the review, only the expensive valves are paid attention to; for such inexpensive carbon steel valves, it’s sufficient to check that the selection is appropriate – there’s no need to count the number of each type of valve!
There isn’t a single butterfly valve – is it still okay to select the model? ;P
I’m a beginner, I have no experience. Once, a friend brought me a flowchart for review; he depicted a butterfly valve at the pump’s outlet, with a gate valve connected afterward, without even taking a look at the diagram on the first page.
A recent bid encountered a similar situation. Fortunately, we won the bid. I don’t know whether to reward or punish this young man. The difference between our quote and that of our competitors is very small. If we lose, once the analysis of the reasons is done, this young man might be called by the boss to go get coffee.
You didn’t win the bid – why do you still analyze the specific reasons? Our reasons are basically just a few: the price is too high, and we haven’t worked on similar projects for several years or so.
If the bid is not successful and the price is too high, if the butterfly valve is quoted as a check valve, that person will become the scapegoat when accountability is sought. The bid was won, but the price was a bit high; the boss made a profit while he didn’t benefit from it. So, I don’t know whether to reward or punish this young man.