Why do we need Method Surface Treatment Engineers?

Why do we need Method Surface Treatment Engineers?

I was 15 years old when I first sandblasted and painted a steel beam, I was exceptionally proud of what I had achieved. I was at this time, told by an old friend that I should put on my mind the importance of what I just did “its dozen Mather if the engineer and material guys put the best quality and the most skilled workers to do the job if it’s not proper protected from corrosion, it WILL be broken down and it WILL be destroyed over time. So, be proud of, and put your effort into making a good job, because it’s this work that will make it last, keep it safe and look nice” I also bought my first paint pump at this time, and started to understand the possibilities this fantastic machinery could give. So. 33 years later, these words will haunt me still. I have outstanding technical insight, they say. and I have, over the years, gathered a fair amount of knowledge when it comes to understanding and accepting the complexity of corrosion protection. We are now in a big change that should have been done decades ago, and we call it: THE GREEN CHANGE. This “green change” gives us in this industry a lot of challenges, longer maintenance interval, higher level of quality assurance, tougher product, higher environmental considerations, more complex application tools and a higher level of skilled workers, among a shit lot of other things to consider. How do we solve all these challenges? I have this funny picture of a shipyard in Europe painting a two-component application on a ship. To save money they thought it was a good idea to “build” a two K pump from scratch. (How hard can it be? It has only two pumps and a couple of t-pies connectors!) The result was as expected, but the tragedy is, in one of the pictures the inspector from the paint supplier (big one, not just the guy himself but also the company he represents) stands and supervises the invention with the two pumps and he is looking very satisfied. Say no more! And of course, the price of doing it all over, jumped way over the estimated cost to hire a professional pump and manning. We need to include the suppliers more (they sit on a lot of knowledge), and they need to be more “on” , be more open for changes and listen to all disciplines that have understanding and experience (big contributors). Many of us “proud sandblasters” and corrosion entrepreneurs are still living in the 80s when it comes to methods and execution of what we do. And that reflects on the progress, the quality and the willingness to change. It worked well then, so why not just stick with what works? Sure, why not. Volvo made great cars in the 80s, but I’m pretty sure it’s not many who would buy that same car now in 2022, except maybe an old (and proud) sandblaster that was convinced it is the best car still ( it’s a VOLVO). The world is moving forward, and so is the corrosion protection industry. We see robot solutions popping up with promises of a better future. Many of them are built by engineers with next to nothing experience in the game. They know where to go but they don’t know the way, and this makes the way to the solution (and the better future) in many ways hard and impossible, (I’m not saying this reflects all the project, but a lot of them). A lot of projects close down before they really get started. Big companies lost fate and money. And then we are back to the 80s again. We also see lack of surface method inclusion in fee and engineering of bigger projects. It is a well-known phrase that says, “because of the painters we are now 3-months delay, sorry”. Think about the cost for a delay in production on for example a FPSO that produces millions of dollars every day. It's astronomic. Windmills that need to be taken out of production, or in the worst case need to be scrapped decades before it should be necessary. “The green change” forces us to build constructions that have longer lifespans, longer maintenance intervals and less environmental impact. It puts this profession into a high demand to deliver top quality every time. I think the project owners, the subcontractors, the manufacturers and the suppliers need to get their head out of the bag and start opening their eyes of the importance for this profession. Repeatedly we have “lesson learn and lesson transfer” but on the next project this profession is still not included in fee and engineering, and still is one of the major delaying reasons. It’s one of few barriers between success and failure when it comes to life span and all the consequences it leads to. New methods reduce pollution into the environment (maybe specially microplastic into the ocean), it reduces downtime, its increase the production rates, it saves money, it secures a higher quality on the finished product (and this again will lead to longer lifespan), but most of all, it will keep the environment greener over time. We need to talk together, tear down the barriers between the different professional groups in the project and we need to evolve. We need to learn to create ownership and show pride in what we do. I have proven that with simple methods-changes on a single scope with coating plan and execution mitigated, by superior methods, broken-down detail activities and with an extensive training program, to 1/3 of the planned time window and with manning reduced by 60%. This cost and it needs the right persons with skill and experience, but at the end of the day we all save money, we deliver on time and most of all, we save the environment. 

and THAT'S why we need Method Surface Treatment Engineers!

Have a nice weekend!

Helge Jamne