The new R&D center in Veracruz, which opened in 2006, has some of the world’s most sophisticated equipment for testing tubular products and premium threads. It develops new steel grades, optimizes production processes, and evaluates and qualifies premium threads, OCTG products, line pipe and risers for deep and ultra-deep water applications. The center’s full scale testing laboratory possesses some of the most sophisticated equipment found in the world for testing tubes and threads.
Elsa Marques was directly involved in the planning for and the opening of the full scale laboratory at the R&D Center. This engineer, who was born in France to Portuguese parents went to work in Brazil and from there moved to Mexico. Two years ago, she decided to leave her job at a competitor to join the Tenaris R&D team.
Why did you decide to join Tenaris?
I was working for a company in Veracruz, as a field engineer. I had heard about Tenaris since it is the largest company in the region and I was interested in making a change in my life. When I joined the R&D laboratory, only the welding and the metallurgy departments existed. Héctor Quintanilla, R&D Director in Mexico, and Alfonso Izquierdo, Metallurgy and Materials Manager, invited me to create the full-scale testing area. Opening the R&D Center had been a dream of theirs for many years. My first responsibility was to monitor the R&D Center’s construction, as well as to draw up the specifications for the testing machines, together with the Premium Connections Department and R&D Center in Argentina. Now, I manage the challenge of carrying out full-scale testing. Our activities include developing the most advanced methods to analyze material properties and behaviors for new products to be used in oil fields.
What are the R&D center’s main responsibilities?
The center conducts research in five main areas: welding technology, fracture mechanics, process engineering, metallurgy and materials and the full scale testing laboratory itself. There are opportunities here for all interests. Working in conjunction with other research or product engineering centers, the R&D Center in Veracruz is in charge of developing products or carrying out basic research. My team has a specific role, however. Internal customers ask us to perform tests to back up their work, making us the operational part of research and development. We carry out tests to simulate well conditions and verify that the products we’re developing comply with our customers’ requirements. For instance, we perform fatigue tests for both line pipe and OCTG tubes. We carry out combined loading tests, where we combine all the loads that could be applied to tubes and threads in a well: external pressure, tension, compression, bending, internal pressure and temperature. We have a very versatile machine that allows us to carry out an extraordinary number of different tests. This machine is one the largest in the world and certainly the largest in a seamless steel mill.
What are the challenges of leading a research team?
We have a very culturally diverse team, not that this presents any difficulty. There are currently people from France, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Italy. We all arrived with different working styles so we had to achieve a common way of working. There are some projects in which all departments work together, doing everything from designing the steel grade and the processes to be implemented, to designing the welding process and our own contribution which is product testing. We have already worked on some complex projects in which all R&D departments worked together. These experiences have helped us develop better communication, teamwork, common language and understanding. I’m very happy to be a part of the R&D team.
How did your experience in the R&D Center contribute to your personal and professional growth?
After four years working on-site in oil wells, the switch to the Research and Development area was difficult. It is a job that has fewer time restrictions but that is much more demanding in terms of technical knowledge. This is an area that is much more open to creativity. I am learning a lot about materials, machines and tests but the greatest growth is without a doubt personal due to the constant contact with people from so many different backgrounds and cultures.
