The October meeting, held as usual at the offices of McDermott’s in Paddington, was the penultimate meeting of the Young engineer Programme (YEP). The subjects for this meeting were “Presentation Skills” given by David Mobbs and “Inspection methods” given by Ian Daniel from Sonomatic.
The culmination of this programme is the presentation by the delegates of their Case Study solutions, and as this meeting was fast approaching, the presentation skills section was a timely reminder on how to prepare for a presentation that is concise, and the do’s and don’ts in developing an effective presentation. This is a skill that we are all required to use in our everyday working life, but few are ever trained in. The team mentors (John Boran, Rob Doggett and Chris Googan) were also present which gave the opportunity for some last minutes discussion on the results of their investigation into the Case Study and possible solutions, with one team having a draft presentation already prepared.
After the presentation on training, Ian Daniel described the various methods of inspection and the benefits of each, and how it’s possible to combine the various techniques to broaden the amount of useful information obtained.
Non-intrusive inspection, NII, was a key aspect of the discussion, as many operators are looking to “zero man entry” over the life of the asset. The presentation covered developments in storage tank bottom inspection, and remote monitoring via robotics.
The evening closed with a dinner and the opportunity to network.
A report on the Case Study presentation evening can be found on page 8 of this issue.