Bloch, Heinz P.
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff, Montgomery, Texas
Heinz P. Bloch resides in Montgomery, Texas. His professional career commenced in 1962 and included long-term assignments as Exxon Chemical’s Regional Machinery Specialist for the U.S. He has authored or co-written more than 770 publications, among them 22 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 an ASME Life Fellow and was awarded lifetime registration as a Professional Engineer in New Jersey. He is one of 10 inaugural inductees into NCE’s Hall of Fame, which honors its most distinguished alumni.
Machinery quality assessment (MQA) is similar to bid conditioning, and both relate to structured efforts.
When asked about the challenges facing the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI), our answer was swift and direct: The trials we face are bundled, or can be found, in lessons some of us learned decades ago. However, lessons learned and explained decades ago were often disregarded by managers with a short-range focus.
In 2013, Refinery “X” was experiencing serious pump distress—the third or fourth in a 12-month period. We received calls about the latest thrust bearing failure event on this important 3,560-rpm process pump. Soon after, a surprisingly similar incident happened at Refinery “Y” in 2015. Both incidents are considered here.
A number of US oil refineries have recently asked the question, “When should an equipment repair be classified as rework?”
ODR, which stands for operator-driven reliability, has recently morphed into a new arrangement of letters: OPPM.
We welcome and thrive on questions from reliability engineers and try to answer some as best we can.
We recently received an update on the capabilities of a modern professional entity that combines metallurgical, structural and practical applied physics know-how in a US Gulf Coast location
A rotating machinery engineer working for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in India is often involved in selecting reciprocating compressors for hydrocarbon processing plants.
Compressor owner-operators now have unprecedented and solidly verifiable options.
Many years ago, the vice president of a major steam turbine manufacturing company was called to give a legal deposition in Canada.