Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021 - 17

Reliability

HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
Heinz.Bloch@HydrocarbonProcessing.com

Taking ownership of problems
Taking ownership of issues during a
critical or troubling time is just as important as assuming responsibility during times of opportunity and benefit. In
fact, one could argue that accountability
is even more important than opportunism, since there can be much more to lose
when the threats of breakdown, failure
and harm to personnel, plant and/or enterprise loom near.
Here, we highlight two recent, relevant
examples related to the ownership of problems: one in which ownership was present,
and one in which it was not. These examples serve as resounding reminders of how
service excellence and responsibility-or,
conversely, failure and finger-pointing-at
the upper levels of organizations can have
a strong hand in shaping the perception of
how crises are handled.
Turbomachinery setback averted. A

few years ago, large-scale petrochemical
producer " ABC " ran into performance
problems with one of its major steam
turbines. The steam turbine's vendormanufacturer, " DEF, " was called in amid
assurances that DEF had delivered a machine that met ABC's specifications and
had passed both a mechanical run test
and subsequent performance tests. DEF
concluded that ABC must have done
something that damaged the machine,
but DEF would participate in finding out
what, exactly, ABC had done to damage
an excellent product.
Later that same year-and halfway
around the globe-one of ABC's affiliates
was engaged in starting up a new plant.
The large turbomachines at that affiliate
had been purchased from vendor-manufacturer " GHJ " ; however, a speed instability problem was detected during onsite
test runs very close to the time of full-scale
commissioning. GHJ immediately sent
its national sales manager ( " NSM " ) and
three of its highly competent engineers.
One of ABC's principal startup advisors
remembers the first meeting called by

FIG. 1. The Brazos Wind Farm (also known as the Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm) near
Fluvanna, Texas contains 160 wind turbines, each with a generating capacity of 1 MW.

NSM, and committed NSM's words to his
notebook: " I am very sorry for any problems that this steam turbine or any other
machine from [ " GHJ " ] has caused to an
[ " ABC " ] project, and I am here to ascertain that [ " GHJ " ] will do everything to
correct our problem so that your company
will not experience any startup delays. "
By taking ownership of issues that
arise, GHJ has earned the trust of many
end-user companies. The company's machines are clearly among the world's best,
but the way that GHJ handles the few,
infrequent problems it encounters sets it
apart from its competition. Competence
and truthfulness will carry the day, and
will ultimately be rewarded in full. Moreover, these two attributes are indispensable to adequately planning for the future.
The future of the Texas power grid.
Proper planning for the future requires
drawing the right conclusions from an
unbiased examination of the past. Unbiased examinations have no hidden agenda. Regrettably, we have time and space
for only one example.
For this scenario, let us say that Texas
had experienced a brutal winter. Suppose
our examination of the past winter had
found that many wind turbine blades in

Texas had failed due to ice encrustation;
however, blades in Canada had survived
many more severe Canadian winters. In
that case, blades in Texas must lack something that Canadian blades have.
Furthermore, if 10% of all the energy
consumed in Texas comes from winddriven generators (FIG. 1), and if one-fifth
of those turbines experienced blade failures, then only 2% of Texas' power generation shortfall could be blamed on the
failure of wind power. The remaining
total shortfall would probably be rooted
in human oversights, shortcuts, a culture
of risk-taking or other failings. Unless, of
course, Texans are perfect.
HEINZ P. BLOCH resides in
Montgomery, Texas. His professional
career commenced in 1962 and
included long-term assignments
as Exxon Chemical's Regional
Machinery Specialist for the U.S.
He has authored or co-written more
than 770 publications, among them 23 comprehensive
books on practical machinery management, failure
analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam
turbines, pumps, oil mist lubrication and optimized
lubrication for industry. Mr. Bloch holds B.S. and
M.S. degrees (cum laude) in mechanical engineering
from the Newark College of Engineering (NCE).
He is an ASME Life Fellow and was awarded lifetime
registration as a Professional Engineer in New Jersey.
He is one of 10 inaugural inductees into NCE's Hall of
Fame, which honors its most distinguished alumni.
Hydrocarbon Processing | APRIL 2021

Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021

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