Sponsored by PALA Interstate, LLC
PALA Interstate, LLC has spent the past five decades making a name for itself as a leader in ASME vessel fabrication, storage tank erection and general industrial construction. Now, with recent investments in cutting-edge technology inside of the company’s 70,000-square-foot ASME vessel fabrication facility, PALA is striving to increase efficiency while remaining committed to the safe and quality execution it’s known for.
Company leaders have invested in semi- automated welding technology and equipment at PALA’s 37-acre production facility in Hammond, Louisiana, which designs and manufactures carbon steel and exotic alloy ASME vessels and API storage tanks. These vessels and tanks are used in facilities across the country. Investments include a state- of-the-art manipulator and a collaborative robotic welding system.
Semi-automated and automated welding is a transformative technology and will continue to expand PALA’s growth in the ASME vessel market as a Gulf Coast leader. Traditional methods require a welder to physically join the components whereas automated technologies streamline the welding process, enhancing safety, ensuring consistent quality and significantly reducing fabrication time — all controlled through the convenience of an LCD interface. These technologies are designed to work with people — not replace them.
“We wanted to move into more semi-automated and automated technologies to cement our position as an industry leader in ASME and API vessel and tank fabrication,” says Adam Landry, PALA’s chief operating officer. “These technologies provide
consistent, high-quality welds that meet all specification requirements while ensuring safety at our facility and promoting technologically advanced working conditions for our employee owners as well as improved delivery schedules to our customers.”
While the automated welding equipment can’t be applied to all of PALA’s fabrication processes, PALA is optimistic that implementing the technology will broaden and extend the company’s extensive client portfolio developed in the past 51 years of business.
PALA is committed to searching for solutions via technology to further enhance all aspects of the fabrication process, thereby creating more opportunities for its employee owners and better efficiency for end-user customers.
During the installation of these technological advancements, the company has been modernizing other aspects of its work, with safety and quality at the forefront. One example is its shift from traditional compressed gas cylinders, which can pose safety and quality concerns, to newer liquid bulk equipment with telematic technology that Jeremy Guidry, shop operations manager, describes as a “gain all the way across the board.”
PALA’s fabrication facility has also moved toward modularization for API field-erected tanks. In the past, some of the tanks and vessels that PALA fabricated were too large for traditional shop fabrication methods, as they needed to be constructed on site and could not be transported via road.
A unique new approach allows the vessels and tanks to be built in completed, modularized sections that are then transported to the client and assembled in the field.
“With a modularization approach, instead of utilizing the traditional method of shipping sheets of steel plate to the field, we can erect, test and send out completed modular components to the field,” Guidry says. “It’s less work and exposure in the field. They just stack the modular sections instead of building the tank via traditional methods. It allows PALA to provide a better price, and it improves safety, quality and schedule.”
PALA is confident its modernization efforts will not only enhance the company’s reputation as an industry leader but will help address the widening shortage of skilled labor by appealing to an emerging, tech-savvy craft workforce. Because high-tech equipment like automated welding machines have not yet become widely used, working at PALA offers the chance to expand on the traditional skills they’ve acquired in trade school and learn something new in a safe environment — all while becoming employee owners at PALA.
“We at PALA have a vision of continuous growth while steadfastly prioritizing safety, quality and the empowerment of our employee owners,” Landry says. “Through continuous innovation and expansion of our services, we are committed to exceeding our client’s expectations, delivering exceptional value to our employee owners and extending our position as an industry leader. This is just another step in PALA’s progression and innovation in our 51 year history, with more to come.”
