Mears Group Training & Test Facility Dedicated July 2007
July, 2007
Mears Group, Inc. dedicated their new Training & Testing Facility to their founder, Herb Fluharty, during open house festivities on July 11 and 12, 2007 at their corporate headquarters in Rosebush, Michigan. With over 50 clients, regulators and 100 Mears employees present, the company introduced this new state of the art test site which serves as both a training ground for employees as well as an industry research facility for testing the capabilities of cathodic protection testing technology.
Hands-on demonstrations were observed and performed by the guests who attended the open house including close interval surveys, pipeline excavating, direct current voltage gradient surveys, BRS automated sandblasting, current attenuation surveys, pipe direct examination, ACVG surveys, NDT, casing ECDA, pipeline recoating, and horizontal directional drilling. It was a rare opportunity for everyone to participate in operating an excavator or observing recoating of a joint of pipe. Testing stations were set up throughout the facility providing easy access for the instructor and guests to perform each activity.
This new facility, which covers 2.75 acres, serves as the cornerstone for the training and Operator Qualification (OQ) programs for Mears employees. The site offers field training capabilities for activities including pipe excavation, pipe coating removal, surface preparation, coating application, evaluating casing isolation, External Corrosion Direct Assessment (ECDA) indirect inspection surveys and pipe direct examinations. As part of their training, employees will have an opportunity to hone their survey skills on the test site, which is comprised of over 1,000 feet of pipe, including 10", 12", 20", 24" and 30" diameters. The primary loop of pipe includes over 50 coating flaws that were intentionally created ranging in size, shape and pipe orientation.
Keeping safety at the core of Mears training, the company's current vision for this facility will be to maximize training opportunities for new and existing employees. "We are convinced that a highly trained workforce is a safer workforce. And, it is our commitment to cultivate a culture with a focus on safety and quality," stressed Mark Gluskin, Sr. Vice-President of Pipeline Integrity Services for Mears. "In the end, we will have a better trained workforce with a higher skill level."
Scot Fluharty, president of Mears, comments "Safety has always been a big priority at Mears, but as we analyzed our records we found that 90% of our safety issues were related to employees who worked for us one year or less."
In considering the design layout of this facility, Mears utilized a team of engineers, subject matter experts and construction specialists, all with a goal to replicate some of the challenges that are faced everyday evaluating pipelines both above and below ground.
The test facility includes a 100 feet casing along the 10 inch carrier pipe for testing electrical isolation and the effects of electrolyte within the annular space. Test wires and reference electrode access holes for inserting the electrode into the annular space exist every 10 feet along the casing. The annular space can be flooded with varying amounts of water and variable resistors every 10 feet can be used to change the location of contacts including simulating "high resistance" contacts. The carrier pipe contains pre-fabricated coating and metal loss anomalies of known sizes and locations.
Norm Moriber is the Chief Corrosion Engineer for Mears and was involved in the design. He went on to say "The most unique design of this training facility is the casing. We have the ability to simulate scenarios that would actually happen out in the field."
The research aspect of this facility will allow Mears to determine which coating flaws can be detected by the different ECDA survey techniques and/or equipment available in the marketplace. The impact of the different coatings along with the different cathodic protection configurations on the detection capabilities of the equipment can be analyzed. Real world surface conditions have been included such as soil, gravel, asphalt, and concrete. The impact of these conditions on the survey techniques can be demonstrated and methods to overcome these problems evaluated. The CP systems and piping can be configured in over 25 different setups using the Anodeflex, zinc ribbon, magnesium anodes, and remote anode beds.
"One of our goals is to provide an education opportunity for others in the industry," commented Alan Eastman, Vice-President of Technical Services. The facility is very well suited for NACE field testing courses. Mears now has the opportunity for clients to experience what the employees face out in the field. "We can establish trouble shooting problems that our clients can see," stated Moriber.
Other aspects of the site include the different coating types (wax, tape, FBE, coal tar), CP and native coupons, buried stationary reference electrodes, and a 1 inch diameter distribution line with isolators between it and the mainline and meter set.
The site was approved by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) for CP training and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).
The new outdoor facility complements the existing indoor training room that seats over 35 people and is used for rectifier training, defensive driver and certified ATSSA flagger training, OSHA Safe Trenching/Shoring, CPR and first aid courses, to name a few.
The plan is to open the facility to outside professional organizations and customers for training and research purposes. The site has limitless capabilities to be expanded as technology or training requirements change. In summing up the significance of having a research and development training facility, Gluskin remarked that the facility is about "continuous improvement and innovation."
