Ameritube’s history begins with a simple operating idea: start with the shipped product and move backwards. That factory-first discipline grew into 100% Made in USA, vertically integrated copper tube manufacturing in Hillsboro, TX, with testing and finishing treated as part of the product.
2004
Start with the shipped product
The company was founded in September 2004. Under the careful guidance of engineers and industry experts, Ameritube began its production and improvement strategy by focusing on the shipped product and moving backwards. The first area of focus was testing and finishing so that, no matter what happened before the eddy current, 100% of the tube that left the plant was high quality. That factory-first discipline became the foundation for Ameritube’s vertically integrated copper tube production.
- Deep engineering and technical backgrounds
- Copper tube manufacturing, testing, finishing, and disciplined management
2007
Processing reveals the truth
In the supply of ASME SB-111 tubes, customers typically use eddy current testing—a non-destructive test to check tubes for dents, holes, divots, notches, and other defects. With copper prices at all-time highs, Ameritube completed a 12,000-tube job of C44300 admiralty brass, ¾” × .083” MW and ¾” × .065” MW, for an industry leader in heat-exchanger manufacturing. The tube went into heat exchangers for Exxon Mobil and Petrobras. The admiralty brass tube was drawn from hollows, requiring four draws with more than 30% reduction each. After two drawing processes Ameritube stress-relieved the tubes in its 60-foot annealing furnace, enabling further processing and changing the material’s mechanical and physical properties.
- 12,000 C44300 tubes processed
- Over 1,500 tubes rejected internally during processing
- Zero customer rejects on delivery
2007 / lesson
Oversight belongs in the US
When a typical heat-exchanger manufacturer may roll-expand the end of a tube by 10–12% to fit into a tube sheet, Ameritube was doing a 30% reduction on each pass. Defects that lurk below the surface are revealed when a tube is stressed to its limits; they are typically identified in drawing when the tube cannot draw properly and breaks at a dent, hole, or other defect. The 12,000-tube order taught Ameritube that buying raw material overseas, regardless of metallurgical expertise, requires oversight here in the US. Processing the material into a final product under the watchful eye of industry experts is the best kind of oversight.
- Drawing as a practical material qualification step
- Testing and finishing as part of the product, not an afterthought
2008
Enter refinery service
Ameritube received its first direct order to an oil refinery for C44300 ¾” × .049” AW tube. Ameritube also expanded into supplying C70600 Copper Nickel 90/10 for smaller heat exchangers used on compressor skids.
- C44300 admiralty brass
- C70600 Copper Nickel 90/10
2011
Add the pilger mill
Ameritube installed a pilger rolling mill and developed casting technology for the production of continuous-cast tubes.
- Pilger rolling
- Continuous-cast tube development
2012
Codify quality
Ameritube developed and was certified as ISO 9001:2008. Driven by customer request, Ameritube solidified and codified its quality practices and procedures, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs), quality processes, and approvals, and becoming approved to supply defense and marine industries. Ameritube also developed new seamless stainless and seamless carbon product lines.
- ISO 9001:2008
- Defense and marine approvals
- Seamless stainless and carbon product lines
2013–2015
Expand the test envelope
In 2013 Ameritube expanded into the chemical industry, focusing on Gulf Coast plants using C70600 and C71500 copper nickel, and approved its C71500 product through third-party ID eddy current testing. In 2014 internal NDT capabilities expanded with hydrostatic and air-underwater testing, alongside expansion into shipbuilding, pump-barrel, and artificial-lift industries. In 2015 Ameritube expanded into Monel 400 and nickel-alloy seamless tubing, developed testing processes and SOPs for nuclear-industry heat-exchanger tubing, and shipped an entire ship set to a foreign navy under the FMF Navy, including valves, fittings, flanges, and various parts.
- Chemical, shipbuilding, artificial lift, and nuclear heat-transfer work
- Hydrostatic, air-underwater, and third-party ID eddy current testing
- Monel 400 and nickel-alloy seamless tubing
