China Trip in 2010

Posted January 27th, 2010

Later this year, I will be speaking at the 2010 Interpipe Exhibition and Conference in Langfang, China.  The paper I present will be about the training we provided for pipeline controllers of PetroChina.  While in China, I am happy to be doing consulting work with PetroChina.  My professional mission is to use my knowledge and skills to help people improve their performance..

I like the Chinese proverb:  Repair the roof before it rains. Think about times when you have postponed pipeline repairs, preventive maintenance, or training for improved knowledge.  We do these things in the name of “meeting the budget.”   Then a tank collapses, or a pipeline leaks, or an employee makes a costly error due to lack of knowledge.

And the budget that was so important does not get met, it gets exceeded.   So I am happy when PetroChina wants to learn, to benchmark, to improve.  They are laying thousands of miles of new pipelines, and technology is only part of safe operations.  The people who use the technology are the ones who ensure safe operations.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 10:13 pm and is filed under Leadership, Observations.