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Equity Engineering Adds to VCEPractices Team

Submitted by bmanbeck on October 6, 2010 - 4:38pm

Shaker Heights, Ohio...The Equity Engineering Group, Inc. (E2G) announced today that it has added three new subject matter experts – in Inspections, Rotating Equipment and Heat Transfer Equipment – to its VCEPractices (VCEPs) consultancy. The VCEPs are a web-based management system of best practice specifications, backed up by a team of on call E2G technical specialists to give advice on plant fixed equipment reliability needs.

These specialists are now available to offer support in the following specific areas:

Richard Sowrey – Section 6, Rotating Equipment

  • Machinery engineer with major petrochemical company for 35 years
  • Recognized expert for general purpose, large turbo machinery and gas turbines
  • Experienced in plant design, selection, procurement and commissioning of machinery, as well as systems operation, maintenance and reliability practices, problem analysis and solutions and maximizing operating efficiency
  • Led an international refining machinery research and engineering group that spearheaded vibration analysis strategies, developed sophisticated math model for pump seal design, carried out groundwork on artificial intelligence based maintenance tools and directed the efforts on numerous R&D reports detailing machinery design, reliability and maintenance improvements
  • Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering – University of Florida, 1967
  • Master of Science in Mechanical
  • Engineering – University of Florida, 1968

Mark Harmody – Section 8, Heat Transfer Equipment

  • Staff engineer with major oil company for 16 years
  • Maintains and provides technical support to E2G’s heat transfer equipment engineering practices
  • Experience in piping stress analysis, mechanical and thermal designing of unfired heat exchangers
  • Manages capital improvement projects for refineries and terminals, turnaround support
  • Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

Al Gonzales – Section 15, Inspection

  • Chief Inspector/Q.C. Manager – Level III
  • Experienced manager of on-site inspection and mechanical integrity programs with 24 years of industry inspection experience
  • Developed mechanical integrity program & R-Stamp program affecting PSM; revised mechanical integrity program guidelines and NDE procedures to the applicable industry standards
  • Experienced in above ground storage tank maintenance, turnaround (TAR) inspection scope-of-work, and Management of Change (MOC) systems
  • Developed inspector training programs
  • Certifications include ANSI/API-570 Piping Inspector-6/96 (Certification #0357); ANSI /API-510 Pressure Vessel Inspector-12/95 (Certification #2438); and ANSI/API-653 Aboveground Storage Tank Inspector-11/95 (Certification #0234)

The VCEPractices are maintained and updated annually by Equity engineers who are active in the industry committees where new procedures in equipment reliability are developed and standardized.