A Practical Look at Types of Corrosion and What Went Wrong Cliff Cracauer World Sales Meeting 2009
Outline Types of Corrosion Examined Causes of Corrosion Atmospheric Makes up majority of claims Microbiologically Induced Corrosion (MIC) Causes of Corrosion Who, What, When, Where & Why Troubleshooting when a claim occurs Examples
Atmospheric Corrosion Necessary Elements Presence of electrolyte Humidity Fe is >60% RH Others depend on: Hygroscopic Nature Atmospheric Pollutants
This presentation assumes that VCI is working
Troubleshooting Corrosion Don’t Panic Everyone WILL eventually have a rust or corrosion issue Emotional Issue: “The sky is falling” * Looking for a scapegoat
Troubleshooting Corrosion Don’t Panic Everyone WILL eventually have a rust or corrosion issue Use the Integrated Solutions Approach * Identify extent of corrosion * Look for potential causes
The Four Quadrants -Which category did your customer fall within Uses VCI HAS a Rust Issue Uses VCI Does NOT have Problem Does NOT Use VCI HAS a Rust Issue Does NOT Use VCI Does NOT Have Problem Recall when you began selling the application. Often a customer will make an assumption that they did not have corrosion problems, when in fact they did. By changing products, it causes their end customer to look more closely at things.
Who is having corrosion?
New Customers Use “the four quadrants” Switching from another brand to Cortec? Pre-existing problem Was the application correct to begin with? Was there an existing corrosion problem that was not noticed? The product change CAUSED the problem Wrong Application Awareness – Customer not aware of the problem Sabotage – Allegiance to previous supplier
Established Customers Long standing customers susceptible: Change in personnel Cutting Corners Product Reduction Down gauging Lower Concentration or thickness Other extenuating circumstances e.g. Receiving party not taking care upon receipt
What, Where, When & How What caused the corrosion problem? Where did the corrosion initiate? When was the corrosion problem identified? How to move forward?
Categorize the Application Identify what is new, or what has changed New Application New Customer New Facility New Material New Process New Raw Material Supplier Change of Season New Shipping Route, or company Usually for a new problem to arise, something had to change. Look for the changes to uncover the root cause of corrosion
Troubleshooting Corrosion Visit the customer Allows you to identify Who is responsible The extent of the problem Difficult to see from a picture Emotion & Attitude of the customer Other factors involved Coordinate someone to visit the sight of the corrosion problem
Troubleshooting Corrosion While visiting the customer Look for the unusual Smells Textures Purchasing habits (prior to visiting) Different people using the product Coordinate someone to visit the sight of the corrosion problem
Process Troubleshooting Packaging Problem What does the corrosion look like? Is it uniform throughout the package? Is it isolated to one area of the package? Top of package Center of package Is there moisture in the package?
Process Troubleshooting Chemical Application What does the corrosion look like? Is it happening immediately (flash rust)? Quality Control Identify how they measure the product pH Refractomer Temperature Check the quality log
What We Need Cortec Product used: Batch number Process flow chart What happens before & after product use Sample of material from batch, or process Pictures Contact Data Contact Cortec Immediately – Don’t Wait Make a joint call Deploy someone to the end customer
Examples of Troubleshooting
Example: Insufficient Protection Heavy Corrosion Evidence of Condensation Multi-metal corrosion Don’t automatically blame competitor’s product!
Example: Contamination
Example: Contamination VpCI 368 Applied to surfaces Visually examined Identified unusual occurrences 368 not clinging to vertical surfaces Pooling present Possible causes: Contamination Surface temperature too high
Example: Insufficient Protection
Example: Insufficient Protection Existing, long standing customer VpCI 322 fogged inside engine compartment No visual indication of application problem Reviewed purchase history Using 1/10 of the appropriate amount Resulted from personnel changes
Example: Contamination & Physical Damage
Example: Contamination & Physical Damage
Example: Contamination & Physical Damage Problem: Probes enter tanks and chip away coating Solution: Add a finish coat (MCI 2026) that significantly increased impact resistance by 200% Increase overall coating thickness for additional protection
Contamination Cleaning Process Carryover Decreased pH in 377 VpCI 422
Example: Work In Process Corrosion
Example: In Process Corrosion “Corrosion” upon receipt (right) Finished Gear (left) Shipment to Brazil
Example: In Process Corrosion Corrosion identified at end customer in Brazil Considered quality issue at packager Solution: Reviewed packaging No noticeable issues Looked at parts with corrosion Viewed earlier process Likely cause was handling & processing issue Quality log not properly maintained
Example: Damage in Transit
Example: Damage in Transit
Example: Existing Corrosion Chiller shipped to India Bleeding through paint Audited Entire process
Example: Existing Corrosion Corrosion ID by customer in India Previous Process: Leak test Wash Paint Pre-treat Paint Painting over rust No inhibitor in paint
Example: Existing Corrosion Added VCI to wash Used PKG during shipping Band-aid approach Working on paint
Troubleshooting Corrosion Don’t “pass the buck” Take ownership Provide a solution Become the corrosion expert Benefits: Secure existing business Develop new business Eliminate Competition
Troubleshooting Corrosion Be Proactive For existing customers: Perform regular corrosion audits Sell Integrated Solution Don’t assume everything is ok Seek opportunities Leverage relationship Increase SKUs
Conclusions Corrosion is inevitable Ever customer will eventually have a problem How you respond will determine success Utilize Integrated Solutions approach Process People Product