Vallourec launches e-business portal

iTube® goes live on April 6th

From April 4 to 8, 2016, Vallourec will be showcasing innovative products and services as well as its latest developments at Tube in Düsseldorf. A central topic will be the future-oriented new iTube® portal for e-business with integrated online shop, the company's timely contribution towards digitalization in its industry at the start of the international trade fair.

On April 6, at 15.00 hrs, the iTube® portal will be opened and the first-ever online sale of a tube will take place in the presence of the Vallourec Management and Düsseldorf's Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel.

Journalists and trade fair guests are invited to the event at the Vallourec trade fair stand (Hall 4 / Stand 4E30).

The new iTube® portal will be accessible at www.itube-portal.de. It provides information, tools and an online shop for steel tubes – www.itube-shop.de.

As a special feature, the portal offers a comprehensive digital glossary of technical terms covering steel tube and pipe, as well as useful design calculation tools for diverse applications. The latest news about innovative products, projects and industry trends can be found at the "Vallourec Blog".

"The new iTube® portal is an important step on our road towards Industry 4.0," says Andreas Denker, Managing Director of the Vallourec Group's Industry Division. "We use digitalization to make processes between Sales, Production and Logistics faster and more direct – in short: more intelligent, for the benefit of our trading partners and our customers."

At the stand, trade fair visitors can click through the new iTube® portal and also register directly at the online shop. In future, customers will be able to purchase MECAPLUS® hollow bars for machining via the shop.

Whether for hollow shafts, flanges or piston rings: producers of turned parts can achieve significant savings in material and reduce machining operations thanks to MECAPLUS®. At the new iTube® portal, customers can order MECAPLUS® around the clock. Orders will be shipped ex stock within a few workdays. This reduces stock levels. Another feature that will be available in the near future is "Forge Your Own Tube".

This allows customers to design tubes with a special geometry directly online. "An efficient, custom-tailored service and an optimized sales channel are our response to the current market challenges," is how Andreas Denker sees it.

"The market for seamless steel tubes is undergoing fundamental transformation," adds Norbert Keusen, 2/3 Chairman of the Management Board of Vallourec Deutschland GmbH. "This is exactly the right moment for this future-oriented optimization of our sales channels."

Visitors can also inform themselves about innovations in the Power Generation Division (tubes for power plant construction). Exhibits include VALIORTM P91/P92 tubes with internal surface protection. A special treatment protects tubes from premature oxidation at high temperatures.

This prevents particle spalling and the associated damage to turbines – and it allows power plant operators to raise the operating temperatures to the highest permissible level. This benefits the environment: the higher the operating temperature in a power plant, the lower its specific CO2 emissions.

Invitation

Launch of the iTube® portal with live first online sale of a seamless steel tube

Date: April 6, 2016 at 15.00 hrs
in the presence of Düsseldorf's Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel and the
Vallourec Management

Location: Düsseldorf Trade Fair, Hall 4 / Stand E30

Vallourec Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vallourec, runs four production units, of which three in Düsseldorf and one in Mülheim an der Ruhr, with some 4,000 employees.

Source: Vallourec Deutschland GmbH, Hall 04/E30