If you have recently started your career as an entry-level engineer, you are probably wondering what steps you’ll need to take to climb the ladder.
Is it simply a matter of time? Do you have to go back to school or get some sort of special certification?
Sure, engineering involves a lot of theory. But we don't always get to see it in practice.
Are you a recent engineering graduate looking for a next step? Sure, you've probably learned how to design, realize, operate, maintain and retire systems - but did you learn any practical skills?
Todays engineering industry is extremely competitive, and unfortunately being a math-wiz is not the only qualification.
Sure, engineering involves a lot of theory. But we don't always get to see it in practice.
As every engineer in the field knows, when it comes to standards, API is our go-to when focusing on oil and gas industry operations and procedures - and API 11D1 is no exception.
Let's dive into the details of API 11D1 specification and its involvement in packer design, verification and validation.
At PES, we designed a system that showcases each project and assigned team members compensation.
Crazy right?
See how implementing this practice has rewarded the best talent and created more efficiency in our company.
What makes being part of an engineering team so fulfilling? Hear it from Blake - a former Engineer-in-Training.
Here's how StoneWall's culture inspired Blake to make a career change, join the team, and seek for practical engineering experience.
Designers study, research and develop ideas for products and the systems used to make them. But is this statement true in all cases?
Sure, designing may involve a lot of theory. But we don't always get to see it in practice.
Let's dive into the details on how you can learn designing practical skills and expand your skill-sets.
Engineers design, realize, operate, maintain and retire systems that transform form, state or location of matter, energy and information. But is this statement true in all cases?
Sure, engineering involves a lot of theory. But we don't always get to see it in practice.
Let's dive into the details on how you can learn engineering practical skills and expand your skill-sets.
Are you ready to learn real-world designing and engineering applications? Then this is for you!
The PES training programs are designed by industry experts to give you the real-world experience you need to champion your career goals.
Learn more on how to apply to our training program to gain practical experience and tryout for positions in our network.
This quarter’s PES core value champion is one whose exceptional leadership skills are magnified by his optimism and his ambition.
It is these qualities that have propelled him up the ladder of success so rapidly early on in his career, and it is why he garners so much respect from all his peers, coworkers, and customers.
Moore's Machine Shop is excited to bring to market the new norm, an industrial sanitation station.
Keep reading to discover all the benefits of this incredible dispenser.
Fortress Downhole Tools is excited to bring to market the industry’s first Pay-Per-Stage, recycling setting tool program.
Keep reading to discover all the benefits of this incredible technology.
Over the past five years, StoneWall and PES have been on their own paths each building an organization that would try and redefine the engineering services world.
Now they are merging to do it together.
While there are many types of engineers in this world that cover a large span of different realms of expertise, such as Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering—one of the most important roles in the industrial space belongs to the Manufacturing Engineer.
Manufacturing Engineers jobs are quite complex. Due to this, the position requires an extremely knowledgeable and well skilled engineer to maintain the position.
Help us earn the 2020 FedEx Small Business Incentive!
We're elated to welcome more talent to our team: Talia Randazzo!
We shed some light on how important each step of the CBD manufacturing process - enabling manufacturers on delivering the purest product as possible to its customer.
While south Louisiana has been struggling for the greater part of the last decade in the oil and gas industry, the future is looking bright for the rise in Industrial Hemp joining the Louisiana agriculture scene.
Keep reading to discover how many of the same principles apply to both the harvesting and refining of both crude oil and hemp/cbd oil.
iFortress - a cutting edge management solution for the oil and gas industry, that combines a 2D laser engraved coding system with a robust cloud-based software platform.
Fortress - The most advanced inventory solutions provider for the oil and gas industry.
Fortress officially provides consignment based tool purchasing for the oil and gas industry, both onshore and offshore.
A separation deep and shallow water provinces in the Gulf of Mexico could lead to more drilling, jobs, and profitability for the gulf coast.
Fostering a love for the outdoors is something that south Louisiana natives take pride in.
So when we were approached to help support a local Bass fishing team, we didn't ask why... we simply asked when and how much was needed.
Saudi Aramco was attacked by several aerial devices during the wee morning hours last Saturday, September 14th.
Though America no longer directly relies upon the Middle East for oil and gas, this event still triggers emergent questions within our borders.
Lets' talk facilities engineering!
The intricate procedures followed and the heavy-duty products created inside facilities are reliant upon two main components: accurate automation and expert engineering.
At Stonewall, we offer both!
We are super excited to have the experience and leadership of our newest team member Ryan Lavergne.
Cipher Skin's recent demo at Stonewall's Broussard location was a huge success!
Watch the highlight reel to see this amazing technology for yourself.
Stonewall Engineering and the Young Professionals of LAGCOE (YPL) invite you to join their Networking Social. YPL is a group of individuals from the oil and gas industry with the desire to take action to see our industry grow.
Fortress Downhole Tools (Fortress) and IQ Scan® Technology (IQ Scan) announce the execution of a worldwide exclusive License Agreement specific to downhole tools in the Energy Sector and will be marketed under the iFortress trademarked name.
Stonewall is proud to be a supporter of Representative Dustin Miller (District 40) during his Re-Election Campaign.
We are super excited to have the experience and leadership of our newest team member Chris Whitney PE, PMP.
[Lafayette], [LA] - Stonewall Engineering hosts Cipher Skin, who comes to Lafayette looking to expand into the area and showcase their newest products: an arm and a knee sleeve dedicated to athletic performance, as well as a pipeline sleeve for industrial application.
Stonewall Engineering is excited to introduce our facilities engineering services - highly effective in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the energy industry across multiple fields and disciplines.
Stonewall has a new home! We moved from our downtown location to a much bigger and more practical location to better serve our diverse customers.
If you’ve been a citizen of Louisiana or Texas for a couple of decades or more, then you’ve experienced, first-hand, how drastically the oilfield can affect the economy; and, most likely, your individual circumstances.
As an Engineer, you are expected to thrive inside of complex problem solving.
Yet, most engineers are not taught or known for their creativity and innovation skills.
For us engineers, CO2 is bad, especially when found in good natural gas.
That's right, carbon dioxide.
As innovators, we are constantly eager to find solutions to our problems.
In this case finding means of removing the bad from the good, while focusing on capturing the 'big picture' - developing lean, innovative, profitable, high-performing and efficient solutions.
Enter the NXT-Air Liquide Membrane System.
An extremely reliable, efficient membrane system offering excellent carbon dioxide removal from natural gas.
Engineering has always been a fairly "technological" space.
But as technology is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace, engineers are being forced to evolve themselves.
No industry, much like all species of this world, is immune to adaptation.
Sticking with the old, out-dated ways of doing things will leave you left in the dust and thus decomposing to just another bankrupt, fossil fuel.
"Choose a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life..."
As the old saying goes...
This saying was ridiculous to me a decade ago...shoot, even just six months ago.
Whether you are a service provider, manufacturer, or a parts rental company; the key to winning customers and keeping them happy is personalized service.
By definition, “personalize” means to design or produce something to meet someone's individual requirements.
You might be wondering how this is possible for your company.
Automation can be an intimidating subject.
Relays, switches, transmitters, panels, cables, PROFINET, Modbus, HMIs, PLCs
PLC-Who? And industry standards? Don't get me started.
Let's leave this subject to the "Sparkies" - Right?
But, let's rewind.
The reality is that automation is the future, and the future is now. Thanks in part to system integration, automation has become common place for industry.
Innovation can be difficult.
As engineers focus more on technical excellence , they tend to find themselves disconnected from the commercial world or the end-users of their products.
To master innovation, you need the right mix of culture, technology, processes and inspiration — this takes time and involves a unique team.
Right? - Does this sound familiar?
Mechanical engineering is likely the most vital industry to humankind. As population grows, the needs of humanity grows with it. As technology progresses, more and more needs become within reach through modern engineering.
That’s not a typo. It’s the truth about the world’s most dynamic energy superpower, and what the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin have done for Texas’ oil industry.
An introduction to planned updates to DNV GL’s 2-7.1 Standard for Offshore Containers and our new container certification service.
The picture above is Chevron’s huge Jack/St. Malo platform, a floating steel structure the size of three football fields about 200 miles off the Louisiana coast. Below it are underwater pipelines that carry crude from three oil fields about 15 miles away in different directions from the Jack/St. Malo, like tentacles of an octopus. Unlike old-style platforms that suck oil from a field directly below, this weblike arrangement lets the Jack/St. Malo pump more than 3,000 gallons of crude a minute from the trio of fields.
The way we engineer and design things is rapidly changing with the onset of cloud computing. It isn’t necessarily a new technology, rather it has only recently reached a level that can be adopted and utilized on a grander scale. Cloud computing is allowing CAM and CAD to be done on remote supercomputers. This means that engineers and designers no longer have to rely on a powerful machine in their office if they want to run groundbreaking simulations or create intensive designs. Storing much of a CAD software’s computing power off site also allows for better efficiency in data and power management.
Achieving technical excellence in a company’s chosen field is a commendable goal, but technical excellence means nothing if it doesn’t translate into business success. When a company’s goal is to provide technical services and products, especially engineering and innovation services, to customers it is vital to be able to win the confidence of potential customers in the bidding process.
There are a number of engineering firms in Lafayette. One that is still relatively new on the scene has a little different approach that seems to be working for them.
Stonewall, an engineering firm in Lafayette, celebrated its graduation from The Opportunity Machine today.
Engineers at Caltech and ETH Zurich have developed robots capable of self-propulsion without using any motors, servos, or power supply. Instead, these first-of-their-kind devices paddle through water as the material they are constructed from deforms with temperature changes.
Get ready for $100 oil as early as next year, says Bank of America. US$100 oil might have been a fantasy of oil traders as recently as three months ago, but it could soon be a reality if global supplies continue to tighten, according to a new report.
The oil and gas industry reached a new peak today on the market.
The price of oil closed at $66.74/barrel on Wednesday - up more than $3/barrel from the $63/barrel price tag it carried at the start of the week.
The ninth brightest star in the night sky sits 642.5 light years away from earth. It has a luminosity about 10,000 that of our own Sun and is nearing death. It could explode at any time and turn into a supernova, which would cause the earth to have up to 2 months of continuous daytime.
Humanity has been fascinated by Mars since long before we stepped foot on the Moon. Our planetary neighbor has been the subject of innumerable works of sci-fi and inspired countless dreams of adventure and exploration. Now, after decades of determination, research, and scientific breakthroughs, we’re finally ready to do it: humans are going to Mars. Really!
When future generations look back on 2018 what will they remember? Not much, I suspect, except for this amazing robot that can solve a Rubik’s cube in .38 seconds. The video, above, shows the cube in an unsolved position and then the actuators jump into action, slamming squares into place like some kind of crazed version of Will Smith’s character in The Pursuit of Happyness.
" Marie was a modest lady. She was very bright, more capable even, than some of her fellow employees in her department. Even than some of her superiors in the organization. But she differed to them, something she somehow learned growing up. She wanted to avoid rocking the boat in any way. She wanted to be invisible and anonymous as possible, never to be the source of controversy or the center of attention. Her immediate boss liked her for her attitude of silent servitude, because he was just like her. You know, getting along with everyone. They were both well-liked by their peers. They both failed, together, as the company slowly slipped into oblivion."
The lesson? She had no strategy for failing. Nor did the company. Shameful.
Sometimes, when I sit in meetings, especially ones in which people don’t seem engaged, I calculate the cost in staff time. I’ve estimated that one standard weekly meeting in my engineering firm — 5 people sitting in a cookie-cutter conference room, looking both bored and anxious — costs around $77,000 annually, and surely this scenario occurs throughout the organization hundreds of times a month. It drains us, and it breeds cynicism. So many meetings are lost opportunities.
About 5 years ago, I left my job as a salaried mechanical engineer because I didn’t have as much ownership in my projects as I wanted.....well maybe that is not how it happened.
For those of you who know my story, know that my loss of a salaried position was not a mutual decision.
So in other words, I was kicked out of the plane with no parachute.
Starman, a dummy in a SpaceX space suit, is behind the wheel.
To make a good decision, you need to have a sense of two things: how different choices change the likelihood of different outcomes and how desirable each of those outcomes is. In other words, decision making requires both prediction and judgment.
As someone who has worked in the oilfield for 10-plus years, you might expect me to tout hydraulic fracturing as the greatest engineering innovation of all time. But even after decades working in the cradle of one of the most significant inventions in history, I still often jump back several centuries when asked what I consider to be the greatest innovation of all time: the printing press.
Your job description is changing. Are you changing to keep up with it? The role of the MODERN-DAY ENGINEER is growing faster than ever.
"The ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable advantage."
People often say we want to have a learning organization. Organizations per se do not "learn". It is on people who can learn - or not.
Today’s factories are easy to envision as futuristic-seeming hives of automation, where industrial robots mimic the movements and, seemingly, the intentionality of human workers.
As the older generation leaves the workforce they take with them a knowledge base built on the experiences of years of service. In addition, there will be a void in the number of professionals who actively represent the interests of our industry. That is where YPL comes in. The group started with a goal to eventually take the reins of LAGCOE.
The world of engineering has an obsession with the word “innovation,” with new start-ups popping up every day promising to “innovate” everything from the way we solve problems to the way we practice our design creativity. But, it’s becoming increasingly clear that not every new product or business is innovative.
Although visionaries such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warn about the possible dangers to humanity if technological singularity actually happens, other brilliant minds are focusing on how robotics can solve age-old human problems—now and in the future.
The editors ASME’s have examined some core technological focuses—bioengineering, automation and robotics, manufacturing, pressure technology, and clean energy—and selected one innovation from each that has successfully moved from the lab to the cusp of commercialization.
Some of these technologies are hidden away in the guts of power plants or the brains of automobiles, while others are as visible as powered prosthetic legs. But all share the distinguishing mark of finding insightful new ways of meeting society’s most important challenges.
Have you ever met someone who as soon as you meet them realize they are a used car salesman? Every time you mention something that you may be doing in business they have a "product" or "scheme" that somehow magically "solves" your problem or ties itself "perfectly" to your business? Not sure how it happened, but I slowly became one of those guys. I was actually given a name as well, I had officially become a Deal Junkie.
Creativity is one of those things both innate and learned. Certain people have more natural comfort than others with the creative process, as well as providing unique engineering solutions. That said, we have definitely seen the impact that training and mentorship under other exemplar engineers can have on a young designer cutting his or her teeth in the industry and pursuing virtuosic engineering excellence.
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- The 24th Festival of Light was held tonight in Lafayette.
Hundreds of Families enjoyed Christmas lights, holiday shopping, trolley rides, and pictures with Santa to celebrate the start of the Christmas season.
New this year to the festival was the “Light and Learn with Lagcoe” booth which promoted STEM education for children of all ages.
"As fresh gunfire erupted, all the soldiers but Patton leapt back into the security of the trench.
The men implored Patton to escape from the Germans’ fire, but he refused to budge. “To hell with them—they can’t hit me!” Several soldiers were struck down, but Patton refused to take cover. When at last the men got five
tanks across the breach, Patton exhorted them to advance again, yelling and cursing and waving his walking stick. About a hundred and fifty doughboys followed him, but when they arrived at the crest of the hill, the onslaught of gunfire forced them all to the ground, hugging it for protection.
In an engineering utopia, every project would come in on time and under budget—and, of course, be delivered by a unicorn. Two of these are possible, despite all three being rare. But few projects are planned well, so we end up with unrealistic expectations and often don’t figure that out until the project is 80% through the original timeline and nowhere near 80% complete. How can you solve this perennial dilemma and introduce more predictability into your design process?
Our boy Tony Robbins sheds some light on how to approach a plateau in life that can be directly related to engineering and design.
After going through several years of what can be considered a grueling engineering curriculum, you may believe that you’re completely prepared for what awaits you after graduation. I’m here to tell you just how completely wrong that idea is. Yes, you may have learned more than you ever imagined in the last four + years, and not to say that it was a waste, but all young engineers still have much more to learn beyond the classroom. Here are ten ways that your college education didn’t prepare you for Real World Engineering.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”
While you probably aren’t reading this article for tree-felling advice, what Abe was getting at is that careful planning is important for any task. A large up-front investment in a project, utilizing engineering design thinking, can save you both time and money in the long run.
The reason I am writing about the act of being “positive” is because of how frequently it showed up in my life. Baseball was the first place in which I realized the importance of positivity. Then it was carried over to my engineering career.
This lesson came from one of my biggest mentors known as my Dad, Ted Cormier. Although he never played baseball at a high level he sure did know the mental side of the game. He taught me that to be successful in not only baseball but in life you have to be positive; and not to hope, but know that you will make it happen. I have seen so many good athletes not fulfill their potential because of negativity. In baseball, if you were to have negative thoughts while trying to play, 9 out of 10 times you would get a negative outcome and vice versa with positive thoughts. I soon realized this lesson along with others that came from baseball also applied to real world situations.
There are various factors you may contemplate when hiring a Mechanical engineering firm, but are all the factors solely based on engineering work?
Thousands of wells require 10,000-psi rated frac plugs that can be installed in the wellbore so that cluster perforating operations can be carried out prior to hydraulic fracturing.
FEA (Finite Element Analysis) as applied in engineering is a computational tool for performing engineering analysis. It includes the use of mesh generation techniques for dividing a complex problem into small elements, as well as the use of software program coded with FEM algorithm. In applying FEA, the complex problem is usually a physical system with the underlying physics such as the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation, the heat equation, or the Navier-Stokes equations expressed in either PDE or integral equations, while the divided small elements of the complex problem represent different areas in the physical system.
Now that's a mouth full!
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is designed to save money and time by computerizing engineering analysis. FEA is a digital platform professional engineers use to test designs against predictable forces, to determine whether a design will fail and, if so, when and how the material will deform, snap, or collapse. They are widely used in Oilfield designs (especially in downhole tools, industrial equipment design, and various other fields to replace the experimental design and testing.
This article will outline 10 contrary values and beliefs you are up against on your course to staying in the learning mode, as well as give examples of the kind of values that could underwrite high achievement.
Our boy Tony Robbins sheds some light on how to approach a plateau in life that can be directly related to engineering and design. Check it out below:
Do you have a junior engineer developing in your home? Do you want him/her to start learning the fundamentals that the professional engineers use every day? Check out this new app platform from Solidworks!
Introduce your kids to 3D design and allow their creativity to flourish!
Do you know why you would hire a professional engineer?
In my years of experience, and while at Stonewall, I would say most people do not understand the benefits associated with hiring an engineering firm. In most cases it is not necessary but if you are not strategic in your decision, it may cost you your business.
They are stoics among us, and they are identifiable only by their character and code of conduct.
We know who they are only by the example they set for the rest of us when they face hardships with clear-headedness and equanimity.
Their concern is not with wealth, fame, or status — but with virtue itself.
How does this apply to engineering philosophy? Download our E-Book to find out?
Here in South Louisiana we seem to have a envie (ahnvee) for telling jokes, or in some cases asking tricky questions. I read a recent article outlining some great brainteasers for engineers.
StoneWall's Approach:
Downhole tools are no simple task. Some would equate them to designing for outer space. As engineers, we can neither see nor touch the tools in their working environments. This creates unique issues that require an unconventional problem solving approach.
Below is the 5 step approach we use to solve downhole tool engineering problems. You can also download our free ebook, which expands on our approach.
DO YOU HAVE A NEW CONCEPT YOU WANT DESIGNED?
StoneWall is now offering free 3D concept designs for all eligible ideas. Sign up today to initiate the success of your product!
Included in offer:
Claim you offer here:
Do you have a code of conduct? Is it getting you where you want to go?
Wherever there has been engineers engaged in some mutual endeavor, there has been an engineering code of conduct. Whenever any engineer today engages in any engineering activity, he or she is guided by a code of conduct, of which they may be blissfully unaware.
So What Is A Code of Conduct About?
A code of conduct is about the human criteria you believe are critical to getting on and staying on the path to the real achievement you have envisioned. It is what informs and drives the everyday ways of thinking and action in your organization that you believe are necessary to make progress on your mission every day.
"The only code that makes a difference is the one that has become a part of who those people are - their character." - Lee Thayer
Questions to Consider:
Understanding Engineers, Realizing Potential:
In order to work great as a team you must start with communication. You can achieve this through harnessing the understanding of both personality and character. This understanding enhances team communication, which elevates performance and effectiveness.
At StoneWall we use a tool called Equilibria to discover our E-Colors. This helps us identify our engineering personalities and better communicate with engineers.
A customer in Midland, Tx needed an unconventional solution to a common problem. StoneWall was tasked with designing that solution. The problem involved the deployment and retrieval of layflat hose for water transport. Our customer needed a unique oilfield design that would be able to easily adapt to their current equipment. If you want to know how we can help you contact us below.
One of vendors needed just that. Gulfside Fabricators (www.gulfsidefab.com) teamed up with StoneWall to design and manufacture a coil tubing injector head. Want to know more about how these units are used? (Click Here)
StoneWall teamed up with partners at Rossi Oilfield Services to design and manufacture a new line of downhole tools. This new design is optimized to provide maximum carrying capacity of ferrous metal debris. See below for more details! If you need support with your downhole tools click the link below to contact our team.
Controlled Fluids Inc, Stonewall, and Braeden teamed up to provide a turn key solution for the oil & gas industry. The product consisted of a DNV Drill Specification, certified, hydraulic controls system that is CE marked for Zone II hazardous atmospheres (ATEX) in all European Markets. Through individual expertise, culminated through teamwork, CFI was able to deliver a technical, safe, certified, and high quality system to their client, as part of the overall MPD system. If you need help certifying your oilfield and subsea equipment click the link below to contact our team!
Stonewall was engaged by a customer in order to solve their issues with their current Frac plug. These issues included low hold pressures, tool slippage due to improper slip forces, and leakage due to improper seal design. Through unconventional design methods and engineering calculations we were able to optimize their downhole tool design to solve all of their current issues. This accomplishment has allowed for our customer to out perform their competition and win more work in their respective field. Below is a quote from our customer confirming the success.
StoneWall teamed up with partners at the Opportunity Machine to design, manufacture, and implement a beverage tool for drones. Check out the video below!
Honored to be a part of this great accomplishment and to have the opportunity to support the success of ExPert Landing String Solutions LLC. Check out the article in World Oil here.
