Author: Steven Bolinger

Steve is a recognized industry expert in Mechanical Integrity, Inspection and Corrosion Engineering. During his 35 years of Mechanical Integrity experience he has been involved with all aspects of Mechanical Integrity including developing and implementing Inspection and Mechanical Integrity programs for several refineries, Mechanical Integrity site audits, materials selection, failure analysis, and Fitness-for-Service evaluation. He has primarily focused on refineries but has also worked at Petrochemical sites and upstream facilities.

Eight Pillars Of Excellent FEMI Programs

By: Steven Bolinger Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Machinery, Materials Degradation and Corrosion, Reliability Improvement

INTRODUCTION A refinery or chemical plant Fixed Equipment Mechanical Integrity (FEMI) program consists of eight basic categories or “Pillars” that are fundamental to achieve FEMI excellence. While every refinery or chemical plant has some form of these Pillars in place, they are often inadequately implemented or have significant gaps in the key elements that make […]

Tags: Corrosion Control, Corrosion Management, Data Mining, FEMI, IDMS, Inspection Standards, IOW, NDE, PEI, RBI

Reducing Loss of Primary Containment (LOPC’s) in a Refinery

By: Steven Bolinger Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Materials Degradation and Corrosion, Piping, Reliability Improvement

Reducing Loss of Primary Containment (LOPC’s) or commonly referred to as “leaks” in a refinery is a key factor to improve reliability. Historically, most refiners reduced the high consequence leaks to avoid major incidents; however, lower consequence related leaks were not given high priority. Today high reliability is required, and reduction of all leaks is […]

Tags: CCD, Corrosion, LOPC, Piping, RBI