Fluid Machinery Group
Q: What was your route into mechanical engineering?
Kenneth Burns (KB): I always had the “knack”, the strange child that would take things apart, try to find out how it worked and then try my best to put them back together often to no avail.
My route into engineering started when I joined the Royal Navy as a marine engineering artificer apprentice. My curiosity grew and although the Royal Navy is a fantastic employer, I wanted to pursue higher education and I attained a BEng Mechanical Engineering degree. After graduating my degree I supported 5500 te offshore platform build in Newcastle upon Tyne providing package engineering support. I then moved to Aberdeen to provide onshore support with the occasional trip out to some old installations in the North Sea.
I have a real drive for making things work and work well, so I’m often digging into the finer detail of systems and machinery. I pursued a distance learning MSc in advanced manufacturing systems and this helped support my growing knowledge in the mechanical but also instrument disciplines. I don’t think I have ever stopped learning and I hope to continue. The learning is part of the fun and enjoyment, although I’ve moved into a much senior role I still enjoy getting amongst the detail.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
KB: I’ve been working at a gas terminal in the North East of England for the last five years where I provide on-site mechanical engineering support and technical authority approval. I am the mechanical engineering focal point and it’s more an operational support role than previous design roles. I’m building on additional skills such as control of work, leadership, process safety, stakeholder management and of course project management. It’s an enjoyable position of employment as I’m often responding to breakdowns and failures with the technicians and site leaders. I enjoy writing site procedures, maintenance strategies, incident investigation reports and promoting improvement projects.
A key part of the role is also supporting budgets and spend, whether Opex or Capex it requires looking to the future and taking advantage of planned outages to implement improvements. I’ve been fortunate to engage and learn from many experts in subjects such as pipework design, turnaround management and condition monitoring. As the site is a top tier COMAH asset we often practice responding to Major Accident Hazards and Pipeline Emergencies, just in case the worst were to happen. It’s a varied role that keeps me on my toes, I feel very lucky.
Q: How did you get involved with the FMG?
KB: I showed interest into rotating machinery early on in my career and once I felt like I had enough of a broad understanding under my belt I registered my interest with the IMechE. I was lucky enough that the board eventually reached out to discuss my knowledge of mechanical seals and that my experience might fit some gaps in the board team. I’ve helped out with the Pumping Conference and some contacts for condition monitoring and I hope to extend my network to implement some online training with the FMG.
Q: What are the benefits of being involved with the IMechE and a D&G like FMG?
KB: I have found the FMG a great source of knowledge and networking, it’s helped me out of a bind and keeps me notified on some very useful training material. I think all of the groups are very beneficial when you are working as a mechanical engineer. Those of us who work for large sites and organisations can find it difficult to get bespoke training packages to suit our day to day roles and I truly believe groups like this can close those gaps, linking us with many experts.
I’d like to influence the resources at our disposal into providing more education in bespoke topics. We are always in need of knowledge and refresher courses to keep on top of advancements in our disciplines. I hope more engineers liaise with the FMG and tell us what they want to see, I am sure what we will organise in the future will help the IMechE members.
[1] https://www.kellasmidstream.com/cats/about-cats