Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Bloch, Heinz P.

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff, Montgomery, Texas

Heinz P. Bloch resides in Montgomery, Texas. He retired as Exxon Chemical’s Regional Machinery Specialist for the U.S. and has authored or co-written more than 780 publications, among them 23 comprehensive books on practical machinery management, failure analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam turbines, pumps, oil mist lubrication and optimized lubrication for industry. Mr. Bloch holds BS and MS degrees (cum laude) in mechanical engineering from the Newark College of Engineering (NCE). He is one of 10 inaugural inductees into NCE’s Hall of Fame, which honors its most distinguished alumni.

Improving process pumps requires technical and managerial action

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

For many years, manufacturers have emphasized low price over high reliability.

Reliability: Tips on marketing to the reliability-focused

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Technical writers and other communicators occasionally have cause to think about matters having to do with publication practices and why some publications have higher quality or more reader-relevant illustrations than others.

Reliability: Phased reopening of reliability improvement businesses

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Like many thousands of educational and operator training-related endeavors, reliability improvement training was abruptly suspended when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted daily life as it was known prior to 2020.

Reliability: The case for in-house innovation

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

In 1987, a facility producing decaffeinated instant coffee was getting ready to start a novel process unit that included two large, vertically oriented, high-pressure reciprocating pumps in CO<sub>2</sub> service.

Reliability: Finding a maintenance cost optimum

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

An Italian company is among those that design and build industrial machinery for the tissue industry.

Reliability: Don’t expect “yes” from someone authorized to say “no”

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Our lead case revolves around a comprehensive text on oil mist. It was issued in 1998 with a dust cover showing three oil cans.

Reliability: A good time to do reliability upgrading from home

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

An experienced writer of technical procedures for many years, “KM” recently gave us a stunning glimpse of the probable volume of “ripe, low-hanging fruit” that still exists in some hydrocarbon processing facilities, ready to be harvested from home.

Highlights from a maintenance and reliability audit

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Staffers in many plants in modern industry are assigned to job functions related to reliability assessment and implementation.

Reliability: Reliability engineering on offshore platforms

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Offshore platforms have had their fair share of successes and failures over the years, and to say that their reliability experiences contain lessons for all of us is an understatement.

Reliability: Strainers and thoughtful testing: Piping initiatives worth considering

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

In two separate cases, foresight in the use of strainers on piping and following proper procedures for hydrostatic testing are recommended to preserve the integrity of offshore platforms.