Why I Enjoy Being a Training Instructor

May was a busy training month for me. With the pending release of a major PIPE-FLO software update, all of the other engineers that teach our Piping System Fundamentals (PSF) course were busy. As a result I was asked to teach back to back courses in Denver and Tucson. I enjoy teaching, it gives me the opportunity to go to new locations, discover new processes, meet interesting people and share experiences with others.

The objective of the PSF course is to provide a clear picture of how the various elements in a pumped system work together. The course is based on the method that the US Navy Nuclear Power Program has been using to train their officers and enlisted personnel to become operators of their nuclear powered ships. 

Each class starts out with introductions. I start out by telling them about my sea year experience at the US Merchant Marine Academy, and my Navy experience. One point I stress is when I was out at sea, if the ship’s crew was unable to fix a problem, none of us would make it back home. I then stated that one of the things I liked the most about working ashore (besides being home every night) was the ability to call engineers at the home office, talk to vendors, and colleagues to help me solve a challenging problem. 

Next we go around the room with each attendee introduce themselves and what knowledge they hoped to take away from the course. It’s amazing the diverse background we get in the PSF course, we have engineers, plant operators, mechanics, maintenance and operations managers, along with pump and control valve sales people. One goal of our PSF course is to provide a means for the attendees with diverse backgrounds to learn and share their experiences with others.

For the first day and a half we discuss tanks, pumps, pipes, control valves, instrumentation, and process equipment. The objective in these equipment sections is to turn the attendees into educated consumers, allowing them to understand how the equipment operates, and explain how not running the equipment properly will increase their operating and maintenance costs. Each of the sections has a variety of examples to help them use and apply the lessons to troubleshooting pumped systems.

My favorite question to ask is “How many of you have pump curves for every pump in your plant?”  At the most one possibly two people out of 25 will raise their hand, another 2 to 4 people will have pump curves for 50% of their pumps, and a few more have curves for 25% of their pump. The second question I ask is “How many of you know where your pumps are running on their curve?”  I have only had a few times in which I got a positive response to this one. 

In the afternoon on the second day we put everything together and start looking at systems. We start out by building systems with multiple pipes, tanks, pumps, controls until we have a total system. There are many “Ah-ha moments” throughout the course and plenty of questions. This is a fast paced section that everyone likes with lively Q&A. The nice thing is that with the diverse groups of attendees many of them share some of their specialized experiences. For example one day a mill wright had everyone’s attention when he described what it took to start a pump for the first time. 

It’s not all fun and games in the training business. I remember an onsite course at a refinery in Ohio. Half the attendees were recent college graduates, the other half were engineers with 10 – 15 years of experience. After an hour, I notice that no one had asked a single question. Conducting a course when there are no questions asked makes for a long day, and it’s usually not a good sign.

During the first break, I had people come up to ask questions about the topic we just covered. I then realized that the recent college graduates were concerned about asking a “stupid” question in front of their supervisors. The experienced engineers didn’t want to chance making a “foolish response” to one of my questions. To solve the problem I started asking questions to specific recent college graduates, and started asking some of the senior engineers if they had anything they would like to add. By the end of the first day we have an excellent exchange of questions and information.

In the introduction of a recent regional course in Los Angeles, one of the attendees (with as much grey hair as I have) stated his course objective was to sit through 16 hours of training so he could meet his continuing educational requirements. As we started the course, he was busy checking his e-mail, and would occasionally listen. As the course progressed he stopped reading e-mail and started following along, including asking questions and providing insight. During lunch on the second day he came to me and said:

“I have been designing and starting piping systems for over 30 years now. I am knowledgeable in most of the things that you have covered, but I have never seen it presented in such a logical method as this course. I am glad I came.”

One final point, it’s not only the attendees that learn in the course, but I probably get as much out of these courses as the attendees. I learn about new processes, how the various people within an engineering firms and process plants interact with pumped system, and gain a lot of industry insight. 

So if you would like to gain a better understanding of how piping system work and improve your trouble shooting skills I would encourage you to join us for one of our upcoming regional training courses or even look into an onsite training at your own facility.

Tell me about some of your recent training experiences. Either as an attendee OR an instructor. I am interested to hear about your experiences. Leave a comment below, and as always, thank you for reading!