Before the PO
Capability, not promises.
- Factory audit: process flow, machine list, calibration status
- Welder and NDT personnel qualifications
- Current order load against the quoted lead time
- Reference parts we can physically inspect
Quality & inspection
Quality is decided before the order, not at the loading port.
A valve that leaks is almost never a mystery. It is a casting defect nobody saw, a seat ground to the wrong angle, or a test that was signed rather than performed.
Home / Quality & Inspection
Three gates
Where the control actually happens.
Each gate catches a different class of failure. Skipping one is how a defect travels 12,000 km before anybody notices it.
During production
Hold points, while it is still fixable.
- Pattern and casting approval before machining
- First article: full dimensional report
- In-process checks on seat and stem geometry
- Material verification against the heat number
Before shipment
The last chance that is still cheap.
- Witnessed shell and seat pressure tests
- Final dimensional and visual inspection
- Coating thickness and marking checks
- Document package reviewed line by line
Test scope
What gets measured, and how.
Test requirements are taken from the standard you nominate — API 598, API 6D or ISO 5208 — and written into the ITP. Anything not covered by the standard is agreed explicitly rather than assumed.
- Hydrostatic shell test at 1.5× design pressure, with hold time recorded.
- Seat leakage test to the ISO 5208 rate class stated on your PO — not the rate that happens to pass.
- Backseat and functional test, including operating torque on ball and butterfly valves.
- Dimensional: flange facing and drilled hole spacing, face-to-face, bore, stem thread, bolt circle.
- Material: certificate review to EN 10204 3.1, heat number traceability, PMI on stainless and duplex.
- Surface and coating: surface preparation grade, dry film thickness, holiday test where specified.
- Non-destructive testing — RT, PT, MT and UT coordinated with qualified third-party inspectors when the specification calls for it.
Document package
What arrives with the container.
One indexed package, one file name convention, one folder per PO line. Receiving and QA can check it without sending a single email.
- Material test certificates (EN 10204 3.1)
- Dimensional inspection report
- Hydrostatic and seat test reports
- Non-destructive test reports, where applicable
- Coating / painting report with DFT readings
- Packing list with case weights and dimensions
- Commercial invoice and certificate of origin
- Bill of lading and insurance certificate
- Nameplate and marking record
- Photographic record of packing and loading
Non-conformance
When something fails, here is the sequence.
01
Raise
An NCR with photographs, measurements and the clause it fails against.
02
Disposition
Rework, replace, or request concession — decided with you, not around you.
03
Verify
Re-inspection of the corrected lot before it is allowed into the shipment.
04
Close
A corrective action agreed with the mill and checked on the next order.
Licensed manufacturing
API monogram licences held by the group's own plants.
PONHAN is not only a coordinator. The group's manufacturing entities hold active monogram licences from the American Petroleum Institute — audited by API, renewable every three years, and stamped on the nameplate where the monogram applies.
| Licensed entity | Location | API monogram licences | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PONHAN VALVE (SUZHOU) CO., LTD. | Suzhou, Jiangsu, China | API 609 · Lic. 609-0097 — butterfly valves API 6D · Lic. 6D-1467 — pipeline & piping valves API 608 · Lic. 608-0045 — ball valves | Active |
| PONHAN VALVE (SUZHOU) CO., LTD. | Dongtai City, Jiangsu, China | API 600 · Lic. 600-0088 — steel gate valves API 602 · Lic. 602-0161 — compact gate, globe & check API 603 · Lic. 603-0025 — corrosion-resistant gate valves API 6D · Lic. 6D-2057 — pipeline & piping valves | Active |
| PONHAN VALVE (SUZHOU) CO., LTD. | Suzhou, Jiangsu, China | API 594 · Lic. 594-0102 — dual-plate check valves API Spec Q1 · Lic. Q1-4479 — quality management system | Active |
| Ponhan Valve International (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. | Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai, Vietnam | API 600 · Lic. 600-0040 — steel gate valves API 6D · Lic. 6D-2177 — pipeline & piping valves | Active |
Monogram licences are granted to the named manufacturing entity by the American Petroleum Institute and are subject to API's ongoing audit programme. Licence status can be independently verified on API's Composite List; the monogram is applied only to products manufactured and tested within the licence scope. Where your order is sourced from a third-party mill, that mill's own certificates are shown as the mill's.
Boundaries
What we do not claim.
A supplier who overstates capability is a supplier you have to audit twice. These are the limits, stated up front.
- We are precise about who holds what. The API monogram licences above belong to the named group plants — PONHAN Valve (Suzhou) and Ponhan Valve International (Vietnam) — not to the Malaysian contracting entity. Certificates from third-party mills are shown as the mill's, never re-badged as ours.
- We are not a notified body. Where your specification requires third-party or class-society witness, we coordinate the inspection body and attend alongside them.
- We do not sign tests we did not witness. Every report in our package traces to a measurement or a witnessed test, with a name and a date on it.
- We do not hide the origin. Goods are declared as what they are, made where they were made. Documentation has to survive a customs review, not just a first read.
Have an ITP you need followed?
Send it over. We will tell you which hold points we can cover, and which need a third party.