(Oil and Gas, Petroleum, Power Plant, Ship Building and other segments)

A blog to guide Engineering Students in Kerala

My last blog “CHEATING – OIL AND GAS / OILFIELD / PETROLEUM – QUALITY CONTROL(QA/QC) DIPLOMA / TRAINING IN KERALA” reveals cheating programmes of institutes in Kerala. Further I thought to give a clear guideline for Mechanical Engineers to develop carrier as Quality Control Engineer.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control process are applicable all engineering works like construction, production and fabrication. Placement as quality control engineer is attractive because they get better salary when compared to other jobs. In the case Mechanical Engineers oil and gas field is very attractive. Power Plant, Pipeline, Petrochemical Plants, shipyards and many other industrial plants are also better segments for quality control engineer.

Usually equipments used in severe operational conditions(high pressure, high temperature, toxic, flammable goods and other potentially hazardous conditions) are constructed with its best quality. Please note that HVAC and other non critical equipments need not such strict inspection and quality controller job may not be available.

But you should know how to achieve this posting? Accordingly read this blog.

What is Quality Control and Quality Assurance?

Quality control(QC) is a procedure or set of procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured product or performed service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets the requirements of the client or customer.

QC is similar to, but not identical with, quality assurance(QA). QA is defined as a procedure or set of procedures intended to ensure that a product or service under development meets specified requirements. QA is sometimes expressed together with QC as a single expression, quality assurance and control(QA/QC).

What is a standard? Which are the established standards?

A standard can be defined as a set of technical definitions and guidelines that function as instructions for designers, manufacturers, operators, or users of equipment.

A standards organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, co-ordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are intended to address the needs of some relatively wide base of affected adopters.

There are many standards organization of different countries. But widely accepted standards are American Standards and British Standards.

What are the responsibilities of the QA/QC Engineer?

Mainly quality control job(Mechanical) is related to construction of Industrial Plants. Construction of oil field industries RIG, Pipeline, Gas Oil Separation Plant, Refinery, Petrochemical Plants, Power Plants, Steel Plants, Water Treatment Plants, Shipbuilding and so on.

Each plant consists of many storage tanks, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, reactors, pumps, valves etc. and interconnecting process piping. Fabrication of these equipments usually follows standards for its quality. Hence QA/QC Engineers are responsible to check for the compliance of standards during fabrication.

Usually fabrication of any equipment starts with designing. Second stage is procurement of materials required for fabrication. Third stage is fabrication. All these activities must be done in accordance with standards. The first and second stages are usually done by well experienced engineers and fresh engineers may not get chance in that. More over there are specialized companies categorised as EPC(Engineering Procurement and Construction) and EPCM etc. Hence fresh engineers usually get chance fabrication of equipments. Most common activities of QA/QC Engineers are as follows:

a) Inspection of Raw materials

b) Material Certificate Control

c) Review of Drawings

d) Review of Procedures & Operator Qualification

e) Fit up inspection

f) Monitoring of Welds(specialization required) #

g) Visual Inspection of finished welds

h) Post Weld Heat Treatment

i) Hardness Test

j) Non Destructive Inspection of welds(specialization required) #

k) Pressure Test

l) Surface Preparation and painting(specialization required) #

Note: Usually # marked items follows separate standards for its quality(for example: Welding follows ASME Sec IX, NDT follows ASME Sec V, Coating follows SIPC Standards). Hence engineers should be capable for follow these standards in general. Accordingly there are specialization courses in these segments.

Which are the Qualifications for QA/QC Engineer?

I already indicated on top of this blog that American Standards and British standards are in common use. Therefore recognized certifications required for QA/QC Engineers are also American and British.

1) Non Destructive Testing(ASNT and PCN certification)

2) Welding Inspection(AWS and TWI certification)

3) Coating Inspection(NACE and BGAS certification)

4) Courses by American Petroleum Institute(API 510, API 570, API 653 etc.)

You can confirm this matter by checking classified adds for Mechanical QA/QC Engineers listed in any news paper or website.

The above courses are bit expensive and may not be affordable for everybody. Hence students may start with ASNT Certification in Non Destructive Testing(NDT) which is relatively cheap. Make sure that you get proper training during certification.

Please note that any certification by other countries and universities may not be considered for the post of quality controller engineer.

Please read my other blog “CHEATING – OIL AND GAS / OILFIELD / PETROLEUM – QUALITY CONTROL(QA/QC) DIPLOMA / TRAINING IN KERALA” to select proper institute.

Get experience in work

Work experience is very much required for better placement and that will reflect in your salary scale. You can approach contractors involved in construction at Refineries, Power Plants, Pipeline works, Shipyards etc. for experience.

. WISHING YOU A GOOD FUTURE AS QUALITY CONTROL ENGINEER .