Published on 30/08/2019
Gas detection equipment needs to be operating effectively but keeping vessels fully stocked with calibration Calibration Gas can be challenging, costly and time-consuming – especially if the gases you’re using are low quality.
Calibration gases are unstable and often impure. Reactive gases are so chemically active they will even react with the containers that are used to store them.
The general quality of cylinders within the industry is relatively poor so most calibration gases have very a short shelf-life, often just 6-12 months. Expired calibration gas won’t provide accurate readings and will be potentially dangerous so it needs to be replaced, regardless of how much is left in the container.
Another typical overspend comes from free flow regulators. These use much more gas than you need for bump tests and calibrations so you end up wasting a lot of the gas that you’ve spent valuable time and money on.
All this wastage could mean that approximately 55% of your costs are being squandered. In addition to this, multiple re-stocking deliveries will need to be arranged for each ship. This will incur more freight costs, dangerous goods charges and customs’/agent’s fees.
Organising multiple deliveries and arranging schedules also takes up valuable time. The typical procurement process from enquiry to delivery has twelve steps:
1. Ship requisition
2. Buyer interprets information
3. Identification of potential suppliers
4. Raise and send RFQ
5. Suppliers seek clarification on RFQ
6. Buyer seeks clarification from the vessel
7. Ship sends clarification
8. Buyer chases suppliers
9. Review proposals and raise PO
10. Specification of destination port
11. Agree delivery charges
12. Dispatch goods
This is further complicated when using several suppliers as quality control can be an issue – different providers all need to meet the same standards. For a global fleet, arranging a reliable supply of calibration gas can be a troublesome and time-consuming ordeal.
This is time that superintendents could be spending on higher value and more critical areas of the business.
Using products with a significantly longer shelf-life can make a great deal of difference to your performance and your costs.
FastCalGas is the first in the world to offer a 27-month manufactured shelf life on all reactive mixtures. It’s able to do this because it has the highest production standards of any calibration gas on the market. It uses advanced materials and a mass spectrometer to analyse and verify the quality of every cylinder. In over 30,000 deliveries, only two defects have ever been reported, a quality yield of over 99.993%.
It’s guaranteed to be compatible with all the leading brands of gas detectors and uses a demand flow regulator so that you’re using only a very small and precise amount of gas with each calibration. Cutting down on this wastage can save you a significant amount of money in resupplies.
You can also purchase calibration gas quickly and easily online from anywhere in the world. Our lean order processing and extensive global supply chain means that 98% of our orders are shipped within 24 hours.
You can make further improvements to the performance by using a calibration gas inventory management service to take control of your ordering and supply process.
FastCalGas 1-2-1 service is designed to cut down on carriage and agents’ charges as well as the hidden costs that come from the time spent on administration. It simplifies the process into one order, two years’ supply and one delivery.
We review your gas detectors’ usage to determine your requirements and run on-going checks with vessels, contacting each ship to arrange re-stocking after twenty-one months. All we need to know is what gas detectors your vessels are using, how often they bump/calibrate on average and what flow rate regulators they use. You can simply pass on your inventory or let us contact the ships directly to get the information, we take care of all the rest. There’s no contract, no long-term commitment and no hassle.
Slash your costs and improve your performance with FastCalGas 1-2-1. Contact us to find out more.
For more information on the process of supplying calibration gases, download our free whitepaper here.