Valve World Americas - March 2016 14 www.valve-world-americas.net End User Interview Interview with William Patrick, Global Piping Discipli Inspiring the Future Vete A typical day for Bill can vary depending on the current needs within the organization. His mornings start early and are typically filled with meetings which include Europe, India and North American focal points. His afternoons often include local meetings and work on current initiatives, and evenings often involve (telemeetings) with partici- pants in the Pacific region, including China. Besides the variety in his work, being able to provide technical consultation for piping issues is one of the facets of his position that he most enjoys. Sharing his knowledge and acting as a source of information for younger and new engineers is a rewarding aspect of his role and also reflected in his involvement with the Valve World Americas conference. Bill's commitment to ensuring the transfer of knowledge to fledgling engineers makes him an ideal chairman for the upcoming event. “I most enjoy providing technical consulta- tion for piping issues within the company. This is especially true when a young engi- neer is asking for guidance,” explained Bill. “It is important to not only answer the question, but provide as much background information on why you made that decision to accelerate their learning. Everyone enjoys helping people solve problems. The reward is immediate.” However, educating engineers new to the industry can also present its challenges. “The biggest challenge I face is trying to keep young engineers interested in piping technology long enough to develop a level of expertise within the discipline. Many engi- neers today look for a new opportunity once they feel they have developed knowledge in a specific area,” said Bill. “Almost 30 years ago I was given the responsibility for main- taining piping specifications and in some ways I am still doing the same job today.” Making Time for Mentoring Early on in his career, Bill realized that he enjoyed the technical area immensely. He attributes much of his career path to this strong passion for the technical aspects of piping, combined with a little serendipity. He thrived on learning – researching information and building a relationship with a knowled- gable mentor, helped him to discover solu- tions to the challenges he faced. “In the time before the internet where an answer could not be Googled, a lot of research was required to develop an under- standing of a technology area,” Bill said. “During this period, I also met my mentor in valve technology, Bill Jackson from the Dow Midland Michigan facility. I would often call him with questions in regards to valves and he would spend hours discussing valve tech- nology with me, in what could be resolved in a number of minutes.” In addition to providing technical consul- tation, the piping disciplines technology networks also manage the work processes and tools leveraged across the organiza- tion for piping design. Bill and his team are responsible for developing the piping spec- ifications for the company's various services and defining other piping technologies. This includes partnership with purchasing to manage internal approved manufacturers and suppliers list. “We typically buy from a valve supplier which stocks our approved suppliers. It is important that we identify that a manufacturer has a quality process in place that we are con- fident can provide sustainable quality. We are driven to these suppliers through our commodity descriptions. That being said, a robust management change process exists to address purchases outside the approved list,” explained Bill. With lead times always being an issue across the industry, maintaining an inventory or keeping parts in stock is sometimes prac- ticed. Bill explained that for the majority of Having started his decades-long career at The Dow Chemical Company in a power plant and moving into engineering early on, Global Piping Discipline Technology Leader Bill Patrick, knows the value of experience and the importance of education. In his current position, Bill plays a leadership role to a global network of engineers in piping technology for The Dow Chemical Company. Valve World Americas was therefore delighted when Bill Patrick agreed to take up the role of Chairman for the 2017 Valve World Americas Conference. We visited him in Houston, Texas to ask about his experiences in working with valves, his expectations for the upcoming conference and the importance of transferring knowledge in the industry. By Sarah Bradley MANAGING AGING PLANTS USA CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION www.managingagingplants.com Sponsored by: Supported by: Organized by: Preserving industry with safe & sustainable operaons for the future NOVEMBER 9 th to 10 th , 2016 GEORGE R. BROWN CONVENTION CENTER HOUSTON, TX, USA Bill Patrick
Transcript
Valve World Americas - March 2016 14 www.valve-world-americas.net
End User Interview Interview with William Patrick, Global Piping Discipli ne Technology Leader at The Dow Chemical Company
Inspiring the Future Vete rans of Valve Technology
A typical day for Bill can vary depending on the current needs within the organization. His mornings start early and are typically filled with meetings which include Europe, India and North American focal points. His afternoons often include local meetings and work on current initiatives, and evenings often involve (telemeetings) with partici-pants in the Pacific region, including China.
Besides the variety in his work, being able to provide technical consultation for piping issues is one of the facets of his position that he most enjoys. Sharing his knowledge and acting as a source of information for younger and new engineers is a rewarding aspect of his role and also reflected in his involvement with the Valve World Americas conference. Bill's commitment to ensuring the transfer of knowledge to fledgling engineers makes him an ideal chairman for the upcoming event.
“I most enjoy providing technical consulta-tion for piping issues within the company.
This is especially true when a young engi-neer is asking for guidance,” explained Bill. “It is important to not only answer the question, but provide as much background information on why you made that decision to accelerate their learning. Everyone enjoys helping people solve problems. The reward is immediate.”
However, educating engineers new to the industry can also present its challenges.“The biggest challenge I face is trying to keep young engineers interested in piping technology long enough to develop a level of expertise within the discipline. Many engi-neers today look for a new opportunity once they feel they have developed knowledge in a specific area,” said Bill. “Almost 30 years ago I was given the responsibility for main-taining piping specifications and in some ways I am still doing the same job today.”
Making Time for MentoringEarly on in his career, Bill realized that he enjoyed the technical area immensely. He attributes much of his career path to this strong passion for the technical aspects of piping, combined with a little serendipity. He thrived on learning – researching information and building a relationship with a knowled-gable mentor, helped him to discover solu-tions to the challenges he faced.
“In the time before the internet where an answer could not be Googled, a lot of research was required to develop an under-
standing of a technology area,” Bill said. “During this period, I also met my mentor in valve technology, Bill Jackson from the Dow Midland Michigan facility. I would often call him with questions in regards to valves and he would spend hours discussing valve tech-nology with me, in what could be resolved in a number of minutes.”
In addition to providing technical consul-tation, the piping disciplines technology networks also manage the work processes and tools leveraged across the organiza-tion for piping design. Bill and his team are responsible for developing the piping spec-ifications for the company's various services and defining other piping technologies. This includes partnership with purchasing to manage internal approved manufacturers and suppliers list.
“We typically buy from a valve supplier which stocks our approved suppliers. It is important that we identify that a manufacturer has a quality process in place that we are con-fident can provide sustainable quality. We are driven to these suppliers through our commodity descriptions. That being said, a robust management change process exists to address purchases outside the approved list,” explained Bill.
With lead times always being an issue across the industry, maintaining an inventory or keeping parts in stock is sometimes prac-ticed. Bill explained that for the majority of
Having started his decades-long career at The Dow Chemical Company in a power plant and moving into engineering early on, Global Piping Discipline Technology Leader Bill Patrick, knows the value of experience and the importance of education. In his current position, Bill plays a leadership role to a global network of engineers in piping technology for The Dow Chemical Company.
Valve World Americas was therefore delighted when Bill Patrick agreed to take up the role of Chairman for the 2017 Valve World Americas Conference. We visited him in Houston, Texas to ask about his experiences in working with valves, his expectations for the upcoming conference and the importance of transferring knowledge in the industry.
By Sarah Bradley
MANAGING AGING PLANTS USACONFERENCE & EXHIBITION
www.managingagingplants.com
Sponsored by: Supported by: Organized by:
Preserving industry with safe & sustainable operati ons for the future
NOVEMBER 9th to 10th, 2016GEORGE R. BROWN CONVENTION CENTER
HOUSTON, TX, USA
Bill Patrick
Valve World Americas - March 2016 15 www.valve-world-americas.net
End User Interview
• Graduated with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in 1983• Returned to the University of Western Ontario to complete a Masters of Engineering
Science Degree• Degree led to his career at Dow Chemical where he started in a power plant and moved
to engineering 14 months later• Gained Professional Engineer designation in the Province of Ontario while developing
as a project, pressure vessel and piping engineer • Transferred to the Houston engineering office in 1999 and focused on piping technology• Became leader for Valve Technology in the early 2000's• Moved to current role as Global Piping Discipline Technology Leader in 2008
About Bill Patrick
networking events and even through devel-oping trust and respect with a vendor, are paramount to the success of the industry.
“At one of my first Valve Worlds, I had the opportunity to sit beside A.K. Velan at din-ner. I asked him many questions about how he got started and he freely told me stories of his early days developing his company. In doing so, he made what many consider as only a hunk of metal placed in a piping sys-tem to control flow, into a fascinating story that would make any mechanical engineer excited about valves,” Bill reminisced. “It is much more than the seminars and displays, these opportunities if done correctly, inspire young engineers to learn about valve tech-nology even after the venue has closed.”
As Chairman of the Valve World Americas Conference 2017, Bill hopes to provide attend-ees with the opportunity to be inspired and
excited about valve technology. He believes the event is the perfect venue for the number of seasoned people within the valve indus-try to meet and speak with young engineers and help them develop their passion for valve technology.
“I would personally like to appeal to many of those veterans of the valve industry to be avail-able to tell their stories, whether that be in a formal venue or not. Talk about their valves, but also talk about how their companies orig-inated and survived through various business cycles to be here today,” said Bill. “They are the ones who can inspire the young. As well as learning from the sessions and panels, those new to the industry need to be there to hear the stories and be motivated, so that they can be the future veterans of the industry. I think it is clear that we need to inspire those new to the industry, so they are driven to become the future of valve technology.”
Interview with William Patrick, Global Piping Discipli ne Technology Leader at The Dow Chemical Company
Inspiring the Future Vete rans of Valve Technology
their commodity valves, it is not economical for Dow to purchase the valve part at a pre-mium and then pay the labor to rebuild the valve. With high alloy and large bore valves, however, issues are carefully considered for repair, both to reduce the cost and to meet the required turn around window.
Fighting Fugitive EmissionsAs someone heavily involved in the industry and dialed in to the valve world, we asked Bill what some of the most urgent valve chal-lenges that he and his peers currently face. As it has been of great focus for the past sev-eral years and one of the most popular con-ference sessions at past Valve World events, fugitive emissions is identified as a major challenge to the valve industry.
“There are too many different approaches at trying to quantify the issue by various legis-lative bodies and developed standards. It is very difficult to manage this at a global level and meet regional requirements. Fugitive emissions control is very important, not only due to legislative reasons, but economically,” revealed Bill. “A number of years ago we made significant changes to our ball valve specifications to address fugitive emissions, which limited the number of suppliers we had listed. A number of long time traditional suppliers could not meet the new descrip-tions. Today, most manufacturers now pro-duce a valve that meets the requirements that we put forward, including live loaded packing and cavity relieving seats. The indus-
try has come a very long way in developing standard products that meet the legislated leakage requirements. When these were first brought forward in the 1990's, bellows seal valves and double packed valves with lan-tern rings were promoted as the solution at excessive costs per valve. Valve manufactur-ers need to take pride in the advancements they have made over the years in driving down fugitive emissions in their valves.”
Quality is another issue that Bill believes is a hot topic for the valve industry that will remain at the forefront for some time.
“Quality is always an issue. How does the industry maintain this when end users keep also demanding low cost? Without quality, the best designed valve cannot be relied on to provide the appropriate performance. Casting quality has always been a concern and how best to quantify that aspect,” he said. “Recent studies have cast question on the relevance of radiographs. New work is showing promise with respect to the pattern design predicting the casting quality - moving what was once considered art into more a science.”
Nurturing Relationships Through NetworkingBill believes that building and maintaining good relationships is extremely important in business, education and networking. The relationships developed through mentor-ing and educating new engineers, through sharing experiences with the community at
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