Upon Further Inspection
Upon Further Inspection, the mechanical integrity podcast, uses engaging interviews to celebrate the people, stories, and real-world industrial reliability experiences.
Every episode explores topics that matter most to professionals in oil & gas, refining, petrochemical, and other process industries. Through in-depth conversations with industry experts, we discuss themes like continuous improvement, safety, technology advancements, compliance, risk-based inspection, and professional growth.
Upon Further Inspection
It’s Always Better to Know (featuring Ryan Corn)
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In Part 2 of our conversation with Ryan Corn, Lead Corporate Refining Reliability Specialist at Marathon, hosts Branden Stucky and Greg Alvarado examine Ryan’s progression through inspection supervision and routine maintenance to his current focus on predictive maintenance and long-term fixed equipment reliability. Ryan reflects on how inspection activities can affect maintenance schedules, why communicating the rationale behind inspections helps gain maintenance team support, and how experience in both functions informs his approach to asset integrity.
The discussion explores the organizational and technical elements of reliability, from area team concepts and coordination between operations and maintenance to collaboration between corrosion engineers and inspectors. Ryan explains how damage mechanism reviews, corrosion control documents (CCDs), and risk-based inspection (RBI) are being developed together, along with the purpose of integrity operating windows (IOWs) and the impact of remote thickness sensors on condition monitoring.
- 00:00 Introduction
- 01:24 Illini Roots And Cardinals Fandom
- 03:10 Respect For The Front Lines
- 03:51 From Pre-Med To Mechanical Engineering
- 04:41 Glass Stove Top Manufacturing
- 05:04 Pipeline Valves And Joining Marathon
- 06:32 Junior College To University Of Illinois
- 07:17 How Glass Cooktops Are Made
- 08:46 Quality Lessons That Transfer To MI
- 09:33 Metallurgy For Non-Metallurgists
- 10:13 A Century-Old Refinery
- 11:23 Shifting From Time-Based To Risk-Based
- 12:29 RBI’s Bad Reputation
- 13:40 Defining The Best Inspection
- 14:00 Young Engineer, Veteran Inspectors
- 15:40 Earning Trust With Inspectors
- 17:25 The Inspector Personality Test
- 19:08 Path To Inspection Supervisor
- 21:26 From Contributor To Leader
- 23:17 Mentors Along The Way
- 24:14 Communicating Up The Organization
- 25:25 Learn How Others Communicate
- 28:32 Scripting Your Presentations
- 31:19 Building An RBI Program
- 33:21 Cross-Functional Buy-In
- 38:03 Marathon’s Area Team Concept
- 39:21 Breaking Down Silos With RBI
- 40:08 Using Everyone’s Time Wisely
- 40:58 Wrap Up And Conclusion
Episode Acronyms & Abbreviations
- API – American Petroleum Institute
- BME – Biomedical Engineering
- MI – Mechanical Integrity
- PT – Penetrant Testing
- RBI – Risk-Based Inspection
- Wet Mag – Wet Fluorescent Magnetic Particle Testing
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Note: The views and opinions expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or the Upon Further Inspection podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Listeners should seek their own qualified advisors for guidance.
