Reading the enquiry — menu values

How a value the enquiry states, or leaves blank, becomes an option on a datasheet menu.

3 rules, in register order, from R76 to R78; numbers do not run in sequence. Back to the index.

A value the enquiry states for a menu takes the option whose name it is, allowing for case, spacing and punctuation, or the one option that lists the wording as another name for it.

Menus that only say whether a part is fitted

A menu that only says whether a part is fitted, one option fitting it and the other not (Required or Not Applicable, With or Without, IBR Approved & Certified or Non-IBR Certified), takes the option fitting it when the wording names the part or asks for it, as “NO/NC, 3 switches, low level 300 mm”, read as stated with the wording as its note, and the other option when every clause declines it (“Not required”, “NA”, “Non-IBR”).

A clause declining one detail, as “Low-Low level: NA”, is a detail. Wording that makes the part conditional, refers elsewhere, leaves it open or both asks for and declines it (“if required”, “as per datasheet”, “optional”, “TBC”) goes to the reading model, told that the menu only records whether the part is fitted.

A menu with real alternatives, such as RS 485 or Not Applicable, is never read this way.

When the wording matches no option outright

Otherwise, including when two options list the same wording, the reading model is asked which option the wording means, with “none” as an answer. It is told that one material in different forms or standards is one fit, and that mild steel is not forged or cast carbon steel. An option it is more than 80% sure of is taken and marked mapped, beside what the customer wrote. A wording the model was never asked about, because its call failed, keeps what the customer wrote and can be asked again later.

Where no option is taken, the menu takes the model’s closest option when it is at least 50% sure and the line’s product offers it, marked mapped; otherwise it takes what the line’s product decides, as a menu the enquiry leaves blank does (R77).

Material menus

On a menu that chooses a material, the line’s product instead takes the option of a material the customer named, whatever its standard or form, so “SS304” takes “SS 304 ASTM A182 - Flanges”, marked mapped.

The A105, A106, A53 and A36 grades read as carbon steel; MS and mild steel take only a mild-steel option (A36, IS 2062 or MS), so “MS” takes “CS ASTM A36 - Sheet” and is Custom on a row offering only forged or cast carbon steel (A105, WCB).

S316 and S304 read as their stainless grades, and CF8M, CF8 and CF3M as SS 316, SS 304 and SS 316L; a bare “SS” names no grade. A Hastelloy takes only the grade written, so “Hastelloy C” does not take Hastelloy C-22.

A row whose only option names the material the customer named, beside another, takes it, so “PTFE” takes “PTFE + Neoprene”.

A material’s designations are part of it: its standard (ASTM, ASME, ANSI, IS, DIN, EN, JIS, BS), its specification (A182, SA 106), its grade (Gr B, F316, TP304, WCB, CF8M) and its form (sheet, plate, pipe, rod, bar, tube, forged, cast), so “CS A105” and “SS316 ASTM A182” are one material each.

Several materials in one value

Wording names alternatives only as a clean list: materials joined by “/” or “or”, each with nothing beside it but its designations, as “SS316 / SS316L”, “CS A105 / SS304” or “SA 106 Gr B / SS316”.

A finish tail, as below, and an equivalence tail (“or equivalent”, “or equiv.”, “or better”, “or similar”, “or compatible material”, “or chemically compatible material”) are set aside first, so “SS316 / SS316L with epoxy paint” is a list too.

Any other wording that names several materials is read as no material, among them a list with a negation (“CS not acceptable”), a part (“body SS316, trim SS304”), a “with” (“SS316 with CS flanges”), a condition (“subject to process-media compatibility”) or a comma alone.

A single material, and what rules it out

A single material is read as stated unless the wording rules it out: a refusal anywhere in it (not acceptable, not allowed, not permitted, not suitable, not to be used, to be avoided, excluded, rejected, prohibited), as in “CS (not allowed)” or “CS is not acceptable”; a bare “no” directly after it, with only spaces or “. : -” between, as in “CS - NO”; or a negation directly before it (“not CS”, “other than CS”, “w/o CS”).

“SS304 non-IBR” and “SS304, IBR: No” are SS304, since there the “no” answers IBR. A number after “No.”, “Item No” or “Tag No” is not a grade, so “SS304, Tag No. 316” is SS304.

A “+” or “with” tail leaves the base metal only when every word of it is a finish word (powder, coated, coating, paint, painted, epoxy, enamel, galvanised, hot dip, primer, finish, 3.1, cert, certificate, certified), as in “MS+Powder”, “CS with epoxy paint” or “CS + hot dip galvanised”; any other tail, as in “MS + Rubber” or “SS304 + IBR”, is read as no material.

Linings and coatings

A single metal with a lining or coating, such as “SS316 lined with PTFE”, “SS316 ASTM A182 PTFE lined” or “MS lined with rubber”, gives its base metal on a body or connection menu and its liner on the lining menu.

A lining or coating with no graded metal, such as “PTFE lined” or “PTFE coated SS”, gives its liner on the lining menu and no material on any other.

Choosing among options that qualify

Where several qualify, whether as alternatives or because they meet a minimum, the product takes one in this order. It first drops any option the fluid’s grades rule out (R79): those the fluid grades C, and those it grades D unless the option is the default and the fluid is mild.

It then takes the default if the default is left; else the option the fluid grades best; else the one nearest the wording, which is the first named or the closest to the minimum; else the one the model favours; else the first in the datasheet. If the fluid rules out every one of them, the order applies to them all.

Values worded as a minimum

On any menu, a value worded as a minimum takes an option that meets it, such as “SS316 min.” or “weatherproof to min IP65”.

The marker (“min”, “minimum”, “at least”, “or better”) must touch the material or IP rating it bounds, with nothing between them but spaces or punctuation; “SS304 2mm min”, “min. 3 mm SS304” and “SS304, min. thickness 3 mm” state no minimum.

An IP rating meets a minimum when both of its digits are at least the minimum’s, and SS 316 or SS 316L meets an SS 304 minimum, SS 316L an SS 316 one. Where the menu’s options carry no IP rating, “weatherproof to min IP65” takes the option named Weatherproof.

When the family does not offer the option, and Custom

A stated option the family does not offer, on a material menu, takes the family’s option of the same material, marked mapped, and the line lists it under Differs from the enquiry; an option a person edited is never replaced.

Custom is taken, with the customer’s wording, only where the menu has Custom and none of the named materials is offered, and for wording naming no material the model is less than 50% sure of. Such a Custom stands as stated and does not stop the line confirming itself (R71).

Either way “The enquiry says “…”.” stays beneath it, the product’s datasheet row names what the customer wrote beside the rule that decided it, and the line lists it under Differs from the enquiry (R81, R35). With no product to decide it, it holds no option and shows the wording and the nearest options for a person to pick.

Otherwise Custom is taken only when a person picks it. A yes/no field is read the same way, as Required or Not required. Each accessory a line asks for is read on its own, and an accessory is never Custom: one no option means keeps the customer’s wording and its nearest options.

What the customer wrote is always kept with the value.

For the family a line’s product suggestion picks, when it is of the line’s category, a menu the enquiry does not state takes the option the family’s datasheet decides from the rest of the line: a “Decided by” mapping, a process condition, the size, a material copied from another header, or the fluid’s corrosion grades (R79).

Otherwise it takes the datasheet’s default, or its only option besides Custom, and otherwise it is left for a person.

Where the datasheet names two defaults and nothing else decides between them, the menu is left for a person with both defaults offered; on a header the fluid touches, the fluid decides when exactly one of the two is graded A or B, or D for a fluid that is mild overall.

A header that a mapping, a gate or a copied material ties to one left for a person, or to a stated value no option matched, waits for it. Nothing is saved: the menus are worked out each time the line is read and follow the product if it changes. Text, number and range rows follow R90.

R78 — A header we fill gives way to what the customer stated

A header we filled that would hide a header the enquiry states, or whose mapping would refuse the stated answer, takes the option that allows the stated value instead, or is left for a person with the options that do.

A stated value is shown as stated and marked not offered by a product when that product’s header does not list it and has no Custom option, when no option of the header we filled allows it, when another stated value or the size the product was chosen at rules it out, or when it breaks a hard limit.

The size is not changed to suit it. A value not offered counts against the product’s fit, and the headers that depend on it are answered as if it were unstated. A hard limit broken only on assumed values, or on library values of a fluid no person has confirmed, warns instead, and the stated option stays.

A Custom value on a header that lists Custom is never refused by a mapping. A value stated or picked that the product’s header does not list at all, on a header that lists Custom, is quoted with that product’s Custom option, worded as the value: the line keeps the value as stated and the order code takes Custom’s code.

The value is offered: it is not marked not offered, carries no caution or deviation note, and does not count against the product’s fit.

Its price is the rate typed for the Custom option on the quotation’s option row: on a row that affects the price the line stays unpriced until one is typed, and ₹0 may be typed; on any other row it adds nothing until one is.

The rate carries into the next revision and is withheld with the line’s other typed values when its item code changes (R36). The day the product’s datasheet lists the value, the line takes its own code with nothing saved again.

On a header without Custom, a value the header does not list at all takes what the product decides for the header, its default or a rule, as if the enquiry had left it blank: the order code takes that option’s code and the value stays marked not offered, so the quotation’s notes still name it.

A value the header lists that a mapping, another stated value, the size or a hard limit rules out is neither quoted as Custom nor replaced, and is left for a person. Nor is a size: a stated size the product does not list stays not offered, the item code follows the line’s size, and the size check carries the caution.