Materials.Business Newsletter ⚙️ March 06th, 2024
Podcast Guest: Paisley Cameron, P.Eng.
Summary of the discussion
Paisley accompanied us in this Podcast with valuable contributions from her personal and professional experience. She has more than ten years of experience in welding and metallurgical engineering, in the oil industry, design, reconstruction, maintenance, and attention to service outages.
The origins
Coming from a farming community in a rural area of Ontario-Canada, she grew up playing on a farm, surrounded by pumps, and tractors, planting and marketing agricultural products. She was also influenced in some way by the fact that her stepfather worked in a foundry, making parts for automobile engine blocks, which sparked her interest in this area since she was a child. A powerful girl who preferred cars to Barbie dolls. Paisley is a woman who loves cars, she started as an automotive engineer. She broke the first barrier at a young age, pursuing a post-secondary education, in a region where many only complete secondary school and join the workforce in the community.
As her career progressed, she worked in the oil sands industry in Fort McMurray-Alberta, doing data entry and supporting Risk Based Inspection (RBI) projects, which motivated her curiosity to learn more about the origin of the information she was entering. That background allowed her to enter the world of inspections and maintenance, receiving support from senior engineers and API inspectors, writing repair packages, and supporting maintenance activities. This opportunity allowed her to understand in more depth the topics of corrosion, cracking, and industrial problems of this type of work.
She started as an Inspector since there was no materials engineering position open at the time. But her next big step was to become a Materials Engineer. She then began to get involved with the welding procedures and workshops of the place, as a specific objective, she became a specialist in these procedures with welding and materials quality management systems.
An abstract art - metallurgy ....
Our guest thinks that materials, metallurgy, and welding engineering are an art in extinction. As she said: "It is an art that is neither abstract nor an exact science". Getting involved in the world of materials and welding for people is a passion, it is a job of passion and satisfaction. It's like finding causes and solutions to any seemingly impossible cause. Making it understood that the material ages and deteriorates and a way must be found to recover it and make it useful again is a satisfactory task. Many factors affect the lifespan of materials, and a thorough understanding of these factors and a way of addressing each is paramount in our world, if we want to claim the sustainability we are working towards. It's not just welding, solutions must be sought and resolved to minimize failures in all areas and disciplines.
Education, succession and collaboration
Another important subject discussed was the education of everyone involved in the process, welders, inspectors, and engineers. It’s not a surprise to hear that the more cohesive a team is, the better results we get, and this is also true for the Welding realm. We have to take into consideration that our Senior engineers are individuals who are pioneers in the subject of materials and welding and we need to ensure a success plan is in place.
Another great limitation in her work is following the guidelines of the Corrosion Control Document (CCD), because, in many cases, these documents are not updated, they are not dynamic. We have to update and improve the versions so that the materials can be used until their useful life allows (and beyond if properly maintained and operated).
A male dominated world
Emphasis is once again placed on the issue of gender inequality, even in the middle of 2024 discrimination is felt in some places, as she describes: “I have been gotten the attitude of: what are you doing here? are you really the expert?" - It’s almost like arriving at a job site with painted nails and well-dressed is not well-received and often penalized. It is unacceptable that we still have to deal with gender inequality. It is unacceptable that there is still shouting and bad attitudes towards women who work in specific technical careers. However, as any other engineering problem, the solution is in our hands, in the hands of everyone involved. We need to prepare future generations to develop their skills with empowerment and strength. As she said: “your gender is not a determinant of your capabilities”. Sadly it is a situation that arises so often, that the question flips from: "it is not if, it is when and how", so, as the first and often the only one in the room, you need to be equipped to be able to get back the response in a way that keeps you safe, and sets the tone for everyone else to treat you thereafter.
In conclusion, this podcast confirms female resilience and strength in a world that is not equitable. It is also appropriate to mention that this podcast shows that without a doubt, our special participant who is a lover of psychology and philosophy (being areas of the human sciences), balances her life and her profession perfectly with mechanical-metallurgy and materials engineering being an area of the exact sciences. And perhaps this balance is reflected in the power of pursuing her career and enjoying it to the fullest.
Ms. Cameron has a decade of welding and metallurgical engineering experience in the petroleum industry including design, new construction, maintenance, and turnarounds. She has worked for Canadian Oil & Gas owner users in central engineering roles and critical assignments. She has also worked as a consultant supporting both domestic and international (Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific) owner users, fabrication shops, and mechanical contractors for any welding and/or metallurgical needs. Areas of expertise include WPS and quality program optimization, turn around planning as well as support for effective and efficient execution of planned and unplanned outage support, fire damage assessments, and failure analysis.
Paisley received her B.A. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with Materials Option from the University of Windsor in 2016, holds her P. Eng in Alberta and perusing her PE in Texas. She is an active member of ASME IX task groups and IIs, a member at large on the American Welding Society (AWS) Alberta Chapter, an active member of the AWS Houston section, a member of API 582, and the Vice Chair of API 577.
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