16 designers achieved PPD Level I Certification after completing training in another Michigan class of Piping Designers.  Class 2 of the Talascend/Macomb MTEC Process Piping and Plant Layout short course represented many improvements over the first class.  Bill Beazley, IAI President and Class Instructor, said, “These improvements were designed to take further advantage of the unique abilities and background of the mechanical designers typical of Michigan and the unique facilities offered by Macomb College and surrounding industries.”  This class brings to 33 the number of designers certified as Professional Piping Designers under this program.

Mechanical designers from automotive manufacturers and suppliers were exposed to multiple application constraints that help in piping: The requirement to work on tight schedules; demanding accountability; congested areas exposed to heat and vibration; design within a broad range CAD systems capable of solving problems of fit-up, routing, shielding, mounting, fabrication, etc. Classroom lectures and CAD labs were changed to leverage these existing skills.

As a result, the second class was able to spend more time on skills that integrate their industrial experience with their piping training. For example, class 2 spent an extra week of lab work on PDMS beyond a full week of PDMS instruction. This week included significant development of PDMS models plant equipment, which benefits directly from their prior experience with surface and constructed 3D geometry on other work assignments. Bill said, “this led to their creating much more detailed and extensive models in their lab than with similar classes. In short, they make great equipment modelers.”

The class also visited a working power plant, courtesy of DTE Energy. The Plant, Belle River Power Station, permitted students to see coal fired boilers in service and turnaround conditions, a rare opportunity. The level of questions from the class clearly demonstrate their knowledge of pipe, valves, fittings and equipment.

Finally, the efforts made to structure the class within Angel are paying big dividends. The class used more use of the videos, practice quizzes and web links to review and extend class lecture and labs. This increased the amount of equipment of equipment modeled and the level of comprehension about their function.

Bill Beazley summarized by saying, “this class continued the high level of competence we achieved in the first class. Not only are they proven pipe designers but they stand ready to bring into the field their long experience in other industries. They should all do well on their next piping assignment.”

Macomb College uses instructional videos recorded by William Beazley and Marketed by the Society of Piping Engineers and Designers (www.spedweb.com).

IAI is completing it first class for Automotive Designers who wish to become Piping Designers. Funded by the State of Michigan the designers are retraining for other industries, including piping design. The first class is 17 industrial designers as piping designers. All will test for SPED PPD Level I.

Piper Training

“It is a little appreciated fact that the center of the automotive engineering world is Detroit, Michigan. Says Bill Beazley, IAI President and Class Instructor. “ What is also little appreciated is that much of this engineering talent has been laid off, with little hope of working again in the Auto industry.” One expert estimated the there are three to five thousand unemployed engineers and designers in the Detroit area.
“These folks are hungry, eager to change careers and are accustomed to lower wages.

And they can be trained. Adds Beazley, “make no mistake about their level of ability: This group of designers represented the most interesting combination of experience, maturity and capability I have seen yet.”

The experienced designers have easily mastered the typical training applications of fabrication planning, spool takeoff, control valve station layout, and pump suction/discharge piping. Beazley said, “their questions, however, showed an application focus and a disciplined methodology often seen in highly experienced designers. They were hungry to learn, came early and stayed late. They show the intensity typical of someone escaping from a dead end to a promising future.”

What’s more, the designers bring developed skills from automotive design that clearly apply in piping design. They have been working in confined spaces routing tubing and cables, placing components and checking for interference. They have designed jigs and tooling that increases fabrication and assembly efficiency. Some have planned parts flow, staging and movement into place just as pipers have to plan logistics and construction. The frequently have to practice modular design and coordinate their interfaces with others. They understand documentation and paperwork. They are used to tight schedules (18 month programs) and know how to meet deadlines.

Michigan has also funded their PDS training provided directly by Intergraph. They can explain and defend all of their drawings and designs.

These are serious folks who want to work. Today they might work in Houston, California or South Carolina. Tomorrow, when there are hundreds or thousands trained, they might attract EPC companies to Michigan. As one piping manager said about his company, “they like to locate offices where there are lots of low cost resources.” Why go overseas when there are better prepared folks right here at reasonable rates?

For more information, contact:

William G Beazley, PhD

President

Information Assets, Inc.
9211 West Rd.
Suite 143-191
Houston, TX 77064
713.443.9914

http://www.infoassets.com/

William G. Beazley continues to offer piping design training to piping professionals.  Through video and classroom instruction, Dr. Beazley is able to prepare pipers for certification.  SPED certification is a well known respected certification in the piping design industry.  For more information on piping design training contact Dr. Beazley.

(Houston, TX 08 Sept 2008) SPED has announced they will market KBI’s new Piper Video Series designed to increase Piping Design skills to industry levels.  The SPED Piper Video Series topics are sold as two levels of training: 1.) Piper BootCamp which covers in-line pipe routing and 2.)  Process Plant Layout which covers placement of major equipment within the facility.  SPED training videos are used world-wide as training aides for new piping designers and knowledge refreshers for practicing piping designers SPED’s Piper Video Series is considered the Industry Standard and used by International and Fortune 500 companies.  Knowledge Base International developed the Piper Video Series to provide piping training to piping engineers and piping designers.

Getting Project Ready
SPED’s Piper Video Series covers 29 Critical Topics needed for the most demanding in projects in the Global Market Place.  The videos are designed for the new Piper and a useful resource for experienced Pipers. Using the videos has several advantages:

• Eliminate pulling Instructors off a project to teach
• No need for a dedicated training facility
• Employees train at their desk
• Self Paced
• Delivered as a Plug and Play USB Hard Drive

The videos are the perfect resource for piping design information and just in time training.

Two Levels of Training Matched to PPD Certification

Choose from two levels of training:

• Piper BootCamp for the New Piping Designer
• Process Plant Layout for the Experienced Piping Designer

The Piper BootCamp level videos review knowledge and skills appropriate for in-line pipe routing. It covers the equipment and fittings important to routing pipe from nozzle to rack to nozzle.

The Process Plant Layout level videos review the knowledge and skills appropriate for equipment layout.  It covers drums, towers, exchangers, tanks and other equipment requiring placement and orientation before any pipe is routed.

Because some topics are considered vital to both functions, some videos are included in both series.

Two Versions of the Process Plant Layout Course
Current users of SPED’s Process Plant Layout Videos will now realize that there are now two versions of the PPL course videos:

Version I  Original Video Recordings of live Instructor presentations
Version II  Newly recorded PPL videos with additional topics and extended notes

Preparation for Certification
Both video series target knowledge needed for certification as a Professional Piping Designer (PPD) Certification.  The Process Piper Bootcamp Level videos are recommended preparation for PPD Level I certification.  The Process Plant Layout Level videos are recommended preparation for the PPD Level III certification.  SPED PPD Certification is recognized world-wide.

To purchase the SPED’s Piper Video Series contact the SPED at 832-286-3404 or spedexec@spedweb.com.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (Aug. 1, 2008).  All 17 members of the 4th offering of the SHRDC INSEP Piping Engineering training class have passed the their first phase of training and the SPED Professional Piping Designer (PPD) Level I Certification Exam.  INSEP, or Industrial Skills Enhancement Program, organized by the Selangor Human Resource Development Center (SHRDC), is a training and development program aimed at producing competent graduate engineers. The INSEP program is funded by the State of Salengor and participating industrial sponsors. Passing the training and exam qualifies them for the second, on-the-job phase of their training at Technip Geoproduction (M) Sdn. Bhd., based in Kuala Lumpur, who helped develop the Piping Engineering INSEP training program.  Information Assets, Inc., provided piping engineering training on approximately 30 topics over a six week period.

SPED (Society of Piping Engineers and Designers) offers four levels of PPD Certification. Level I PPD Certification is considered a demonstration that holder has the basic knowledge needed to correctly route process pipe.

Since 2005, 70 engineers have been enrolled in the program:

Selangor Human Resource Development Center (SHRDC), is a training and development facility aimed at applied skills training for the Malaysian manufacturing and technical services sector.  SHRDC Contact: Woo May May, www.shrdc.org.my.

Technip Geoproduction Malaysia is a leading oil and gas engineering organisation and provider of technology solutions and turnkey contracting expertise in 3 business segments: Subsea, Offshore and Onshore.  They are involved in the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of  offshore deepwater, subsea and shallow field facilities and onshore in downstream oil refining, gas processing, LNG, ethylene / petrochemical plants, as well as in selected non-hydrocarbons such as life sciences, chemicals and biofuels / biodiesel.

The Society of Piping Engineers and Designers is an international organization dedicated the advancement of the piping profession.  The society offers a four level Professional Piping Designer Program and a variety of other professional development programs.  SPED contact: Andrea C. Macejak, Manager of Operations, US 832-286-3404, www.spedweb.com.

Information Assets, Inc., is a leading provider of piping design training for piping designers and piping engineers.  For more information, contact: William G. Beazley, 713-443-9914, www.infoassets.com.

Houston, TX (July 4, 2008)  – Information Assets, Inc., completed its support of training of 150 piping designers in the Gulf Coast area, organized by the Society of Piping Engineers and Designers and Houston Community College.  The training was funded by a $426,727 job-training grant from the Skills Development Fund that the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) administers. IAI provided classroom piping designer training on over 15 topics considered essential to piping design.

Training was guided by a consortium of 14 industry partners that locally employ piper designers.  “The industry partners shaped the content of the training and the profile of the trainee,” said, Sterling Foote, HCCS Grant Director. “Without their support, this grant could not have been successful.”  The fourteen partners were ABB Lummus (CBI), Aker Kvaerner, Bechtel, Demar, Ltd., Dow Chemical, Foster Wheeler, Gulf Interstate Engineering,  J. Ray McDermott, Inc., Mustang Engineering, SBM IMODCO, SNC-Lavalin GDS, Technip USA Inc., Universal Ensco, Inc., and WorleyParsons Group, Inc.

Houston Community College contact: Sterling Foote at (713) 718-7546 or sterling.foote@hccs.edu
The Society of Piping Engineers and Designers is a professional society dedicated to advancing process piping design and engineering.  For details on SPED and the services it offers in unison with its network of local workforce development boards, call 832-286-3404 or visit www.spedweb.com

Information Assets, Inc. provides piping design training worldwide for pipe designers and piping eEngineers.  For more information, contact William G. Beazley, Phd, 713-443-9914 or www.infoassets.com.