[monkeycad]

Time spent as a Piper!

I spent a little time thinking about how to best answer the question “What is a piping designer”. I feel qualified to answer it because I have been professionally employed as a “piping designer” for thirty years working both “on site” and in consultant engineering offices; and I am still employed as a piping designer. I have performed design work within many industries – marine, chemical, refinery, and offshore oil production. I have actually been a part of and have witnessed the “board to CAD transition”. I went from a time where the board drafter had never seen a CAD computer, to the present where the younger drafter has never seen a board. But (for me) to give the best answer about what is a piper, I must consider the view or definition from both the past, the present state of piping design; and also try to consider both the employers, the engineers views and the views of my fellow designers. The thirty year ride for me has been: confusing, intimidating, stressful, anxious, frustrating, joyful, enlightening, interesting and unusual. There are a wide variety of personalities that I have come across over the years. What other industry proudly refers to individuals as “the shopper”, “piper”, “directs”, “CAD monkey”, and ridicules the very people that give us our orders (engineers) on a constant basis? And haven’t we all worked with the know it all checker whose main purpose in life was to make us miserable over a sixteenth of an inch? I feel lucky to have had the pleasure of working with the smartest, very creative and intelligent people. On the opposite hand, I have also worked with some who really should have never been trusted with digging a trench for a pipe, much less designing a piping system. And don’t we just love taking orders from an engineer who knows little or nothing?

What is a piper?

Over the years I have run across varied thoughts on what is a piping designer is or is not. When I consider those definitions provided by my fellow designers, engineers, etc. most have very strong opinions of the definition of what a designer is; and usually it is a reflection of their own resume (me included). Mostly I have experienced designers that are specialists in their own field of piping design, be it marine, nuclear, or offshore, who really think that their particular field is the most challenging – and will not credit other designers in an equally challenging field such as chemical plant or refinery. And I bet that most piping designers that I know would not acknowledge someone “as a piping designer” who worked as a, for example, fire protection piping designer for twenty years. Why do I think this? It is impossible not to be exposed to my fellow designers thoughts, because of a few common characteristics of piping designers – they never hold back what they are thinking and the strong opinions that they we all seem to possess.

How do you become a piper?

Since there are few (if any) design schools, one observation that I think most of us can agree on is how we become designers: experience. It is very clear that most people in this field learned from others in this field combined with their own design experiences. This is both good and equally bad. Since most of this information we posses has been handed down from generation to generation, the information and “rules of thumb” (don’t you just love rules of thumb) get distorted, to the point where some turn out to be totally bogus. How do I know? Because I have run across examples of installed piping systems where it is the exact opposite of what I was told not to do. In fact, because of the internet, I usually check engineering forums, web sites, etc to question my own design philosophies during the design process. Often I find what I have been taught is often correct, but occasionally I find that what I had been doing and instructing others to do is totally bogus. I challenge anyone who reads this to also check yourself, if at all possible, and you will be a better designer for it. Use critical thinking in the design process. The better designer should always question what he has been taught. If you are proven right, it will validate you, otherwise, you will be better for it. Another impediment to us continually growing our knowledge about design is – the way that info that is handed down to us from our forefathers. This leads to a certain inflexibility in our thought process; we continue to design systems the same way because – that is the way we have always done it. A good example of inflexibility comes to mind – Someone once told me a story about an refinery owner who walked up to a designer arguing with a job foreman about reworking a piping installation in progress. The argued changes would slow down the job and cost more money. The owner asked the designer, “Will oil flow through it, as it presently is”? This one question is replayed in my mind during every job that I work on. I know most won’t agree with me, but I often think designers do spend too much time on over complicating designs, and clinging to philosophies which add nothing to the overall job; when simply put, our job is to transport fluid or gasses from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’.

What’s it like being a Piper now?

Fast forward to where we are currently at. I have just completed an industry cycle where I have received the best pay, working conditions, and have seen with my own eyes – companies catering to designers in ways I have never seen before. And now that cycle is complete, I am preparing to see the the worst conditions I will probably see in my design life. These same companies that were catering to designers are now tossing us aside as we are garbage. As I see my fellow comrades lose their jobs, I try to reason why ‘x’ was laid off over ‘y’. Sometimes it is money, and other times it comes down to attitude. But the main point I would like to make is that it is never seems to be design or technical abilities! During the past good cycle, how many of us witnessed companies hiring bodies, and paying them rates that would make us jealous a few years earlier? Again, this points to management within these companies that do not value true technical and design expertise. You may not “officially” hear it, and you certainly will not read it, but I do not think that design abilities have been a requirement in this business for more than a decade. More emphasis has been placed on whether or not you can operate certain CAD and piping software.

We are all CAD monkeys, just ask HR!

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that many designers I have worked with do not understand how to use a computer effectively. I have seen excellent designers struggle with a computer; I have seen CAD monkeys struggle with basic elementary design challenges; and both of these are bad. However, I have seen what can be accomplished when a designer possesses both competent design and computer skills. These guys are few and far between, they can crank the work out and revise things in a flash. They are worth their weight in gold. But how does one effectively communicate that on a resume and stand out from the incompetent? HR will just label him as a guy who has “x” number of years of AutoPLANT, along with the slug who you wouldn’t trust to get your morning coffee!

What’s the future going to be like?

Thankfully, I have only about five years left in this field; also I am glad that I am not just starting out as a designer. Schedules, budgetary concerns, less capital spending is pressuring us to “do the minimum”. It is rare that I spend the time to do a “proper drawing”. The engineers I work with are all kids (I am referring to less than 10 years experience) who wouldn’t recognize a good drawing if one hit them over the head – remember we haven’t been making good drawings for awhile. We have been cranking out ISOGEN drawings for probably fifteen years (another essay on its own). Additionally, these kids (new engineers) want to start out running the company. Engineering isn’t what most young engineers have their eyes set on. All of this is encouraging the abolishment of creating “a nice looking drawing” and well thought out designs. But – it’s not all bad either. The advancements in technology has allowed me to work on some pretty neat three dimensional projects with and without laser scanning.

Conclusion

This business is nothing like it was when I started. When I started, young drafters and engineers were trained in their field and became competent. Through three decades, I have witnessed a business that used to take care in the creation of both drawings and careful engineering become one that hurriedly just pushes sloppy stuff “out the door”. There is a definite trend developing, and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.

What I really think: the minimum a designer must know – only because this is what I know

There are many theories and categories of knowledge one should consider when designing piping systems. These are based on information and or experience and include: cost, maintainability operability, pipe support, flow, pressure, vibration, surges, hammer, codes, materials, knowledge of instrumentation, foundations, construction techniques, thorough knowledge of types of components, equipment (rotating and fixed), thermal stresses and growth, the effect of gravity on fluids, viscosity, tracing, layout principles, estimation of future expansion requirements, understanding of how all of the other disciplines interact with the piping group.

Wikipedia’s definition

“Piping” sometimes refers to Piping Design or the performance of the actual layout of the physical piping within a process plant or commercial building. (from wikipedia)

BTW: There is a piping quiz on http://www.pipingdesign.com

What is your opinion?

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