PE100+ Association’s Quality Promotion Activities in China

Session 2B
2:20 pm

Robin Bresser, Borouge Pte Ltd

The PE100+ Association was founded in 1999 with the objective of establishing a quality label for PE100+ products, assuring consistent quality, promoting usage of PE piping systems, focusing towards end-users with information support and welcoming any polyethylene manufacturer whose materials comply with the enhanced requirements. It is supported by an Advisory Committee of international industry experts and is working closely with other associations. The Association carries out regular education roadshows and several technical projects to respond to industry issues (e.g. Butt Welding Test Methods).

The Association initially focused very much on Europe but with global membership growing it was decided to hold a road show in India in 2006 and create an Asian subgroup in 2008. China is an exciting and fast growing market for PE100 pipe systems and but especially in water distribution and transportation pipes there is still a big knowledge deficit and standards as well quality enforcement are lagging behind. This made a good fit to the scope and expertise of the PE100+ Association.

The Asian subgroup is made up of members from Borouge, LyondellBasell, Prime Polymer, SABIC, SCG Plastics and Total Petrochemicals. The Chinese Quality Promotion Activities to date include a Gas Association Seminar in Beijing which led to the G5 quality enforcement effort, facilitating the exchange of information between European and Asian industry experts, the creation of technical position papers, the Chinese translation of the pipe information model, a CUWA/PE100+ Water Seminar in Xi An, the co-organisation of the first PPCA spin off conference in Beijing and the involvement in the upcoming new Chinese Welding Standard.

This paper describes the importance and impact of above activities in transferring technical information and quality awareness to the vastly complex and diverse Chinese market. It will also examine how a European based Association can contribute to healthy market development through a positive image and cooperation among the many stakeholders. In a fast growing Asian PE pipe market, efficient quality enforcement and information transfer from more experienced markets will be a key factor in ensuring sustainability and the long lifetime of PE pipe systems.

Robin Bresser*, Cindy Wang** and Michael Vogt***
*Borouge Pte, **Borouge Hong Kong, ***LyondellBasell Asia Pacific