PMI and MTR tracking on a turnaround:
one record per item, from bill of material to installation

01What PMI and MTRs are

A mill test report (MTR), also called a material test certificate, is the document the mill or manufacturer issues with a heat of material: its chemical composition, mechanical properties and the specification it meets. It travels with the material on paper or as a PDF, and it is the proof that the item was what was ordered.

Positive material identification (PMI) is the test done on site, usually with a handheld analyzer, to confirm that the alloy of a specific item matches its specification. It catches the substitution the paperwork cannot: a carbon steel flange shipped against an alloy PO, a 316 fitting in a 321 line. Owner verification programs for alloy piping are commonly built on API Recommended Practice 578.

The two records answer different questions. The MTR says what the heat is. The PMI says what this item, in this location, is. Both need to be found years later, when an inspector asks what was installed in a line in 2024.

02Why the record goes missing

03The seven-step chain

Keep one record per item, and add to it at each step.

1. Bill of material: the item, its specification and the alloy required, tied to the work package.

2. Purchase order: the PO line, the supplier and the heat number once known.

3. Receipt: the MTR attached to the item record, with the heat number checked against the paperwork.

4. PMI test: the result, the instrument, the tester and the time, on the item.

5. Documentation: the MTR and PMI result reviewed and accepted, with the reviewer's name.

6. Staging and issue: the item's location and the package it was issued to, with who issued and who received it.

7. Installation: the equipment tag and location, the installer and the time.

At step 7 the record is complete: specification, heat, MTR, PMI result, package, equipment tag, and the people who handled each step. It lives with the item, not in a cabinet.

04Attribution

Every step is tied to a person, an item and a timestamp. That is what makes the record defensible. A PMI result on a sheet says an item of that part number passed on a date. A PMI result on the item record says this item, received against this heat, was tested by this person at this time and installed at this tag by that person. When an inspector or an auditor asks, the answer is one screen.

05What to do on an event already underway

Start at receipt. Every item received from today carries its MTR on its record and its PMI result when tested. Items already on site are added as they are staged, with the PMI done then if it was not done at receipt. The chain is incomplete for those items at the front end, but complete from staging to installation, which is the part that matters most to the later question.

06Receipt checklist for alloy items

1. Heat number on the material matches the heat number on the MTR.

2. MTR specification matches the purchase order specification.

3. MTR attached to the item record, one record per heat.

4. PMI done at receipt where the program requires it, result on the item.

5. Item tagged with its record identifier, not only its part number.

6. Discrepancies quarantined and recorded, not set aside.

07What an auditor asks, and what the record answers

08Common failures and the fix

09Why this matters more each year

Alloy piping systems on refineries and chemical plants accumulate changes over decades: a spool replaced in one turnaround, a flange in another, a valve on a maintenance call in between. Each change is a chance for the wrong material to enter service, and each is a record that has to be found when a failure is investigated or an inspection program is reviewed. A paper record survives the event; it rarely survives ten years and three reorganizations. One record per item, with the heat, the test, the people and the equipment tag, is the version that is still there when the question is asked. It costs seconds at each step to create and nothing to keep.