By Sara Mathov and Sarah Bradley
Background and Career
Matthew Williams began his career when he graduated from the University of Michigan, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. “I turned my attention to the polysilicon industry, which was experiencing unprecedented expansion,” said Williams. “I took a position as a Mechanical Discipline Engineer, supporting capital projects as well as the operating plant with design, procurement, and installation of mechanical equipment, piping, and valves.”
After nearly a decade in that position, he made the decision to narrow his focus to piping and valves, and joined Corteva Agriscience. “I am currently the piping and manual valve Discipline Lead at Corteva Agriscience,” said Williams. “My responsibilities include ownership and maintenance of our corporate piping specifications, manual valve specifications, and piping engineering standards. I also support our capital projects and consult on plant piping and valve technology needs, as well as failure investigations.”
Corteva, Inc. (also known as Corteva Agri-science) is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company on June 1st, 2019. It is the biggest standalone agricultural organization in the world. DowDuPont unveiled the Corteva name in February 2018, saying that it was “derived from a combination of words meaning ‘heart’ and ‘nature.’” By combining the strengths of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow Agro-Sciences, the company has harnessed expertise gained over two centuries of scientific achievement.
In a typical day, Williams attends piping design reviews, takes calls with manufacturers to address application concerns, and consults on piping technology questions from Corteva’s numerous operating plants. “As a new company, we have been forging our own path with engineering standards, material specifications, and supplier relationships while safely operating, maintaining, and improving our production facilities,” he said. “In my work, balancing urgent plant technology consultations with high-priority capital project support needs is a daily challenge, and I am fortunate to have support from leadership and highly qualified colleagues. It is in meeting this challenge and providing meaningful impact to the successful and safe operation of the company that I find professional satisfaction.”
Valve Selection
Corteva uses several valve types, including gate, butterfly, ball, plug, diaphragm, needle, and various styles of check valves. Valves are also used in different sizes ranging from ¼” up to 72”. Material selection varies, but often valves are made from carbon steel, stainless steel, specialty CRAs, or plastic-lined metal. Material selection for valves can be a challenge, especially with the availability of uncommon CRAs for valve body castings. “We are often driven to use specific CRAs to reduce the risk of failure,” said Williams. “In the flanged valve space, not all CRAs are represented in the ASME design standards, such as ASME B16.34, which makes us dependent on the valve manufacturer to establish the pressure and temperature rating of the valve.”
For manual valves, Williams said that Corteva uses both an Approved Manufacturers List (AML) and an Approved Suppliers List (ASL). “The AML is owned by engineering and is based on the technical qualification of the valve manufacturers, to meet the valve specifications,” he said. “The ASL is owned by procurement, and defines the suppliers that are permitted to supply materials to Corteva facilities. Suppliers listed on our ASL are familiar with, and accountable for following, our AML, so management of our AML and ASL are joint efforts between Engineering and Procurement.”
Rather than working with a valve vendor, Williams described that Corteva uses a valve integrator, for manual and automated block valve sourcing. “This integrator plays an active role in ensuring purchased valves meet Corteva specifications, including tagging, cleaning, and compliance with the AML. This integrator also assembles automated block valves, assists with valve failure investigations, facilitates communication between Corteva and the valve manufacturers, and monitors market conditions to identify supply constraints.“
The valve integrator also helps with new manufacturers, to review valve quality. “They use a mature quality program, and decades of experience across all sectors of the valve market, to provide perspective to evaluate new valve sources,” explained Williams. “Once a manufacturer’s general capabilities and suitability are established, we assess specific valve model series for inclusion in our Approved Manufacturers Lists by comparing the published valve ratings, features, and performance details against the requirements of our valve specifications. Due to the safety, operational, and financial consequences of a valve failure for Corteva, a manufacturer’s offering must exactly meet or exceed the requirements listed in the valve specification to be considered for inclusion.”
Challenges and Solutions
Challenge: Obtaining Manufacturer Literature
Solution: Manufacturers have to therefore be on top of updating websites and catalogs with the newest information, so end users can properly access and apply the knowledge in respective applications.
Challenge: Valve Failure
Valve failure and failure modes vary from application to application. “Some valve failure modes I have observed in our processes include seat damage due to pitting or scoring, through-wall leaks due to casting porosity, loss of lining integrity, and stem packing leakage,” said Williams.
Solution: Williams said that the primary causes of these failures are related to the age of the valve, material selection, manufacturing defects, and valve adjustment practices. To combat this, valve performance must be monitored and evaluated, and learnings from failure investigations incorporated into the valve specifications.
Challenge: Obsolete Parts
Williams described that often he encounters plants that want to replace old valves ‘like for like’, only to discover that the original manufacturer no longer exists or offers that model.
Solution: “Taking the retired valve’s performance into account, I can help the plant arrive at a solution, and then update their pipe or valve specs accordingly,” said Williams. “When this happens, I must start at the very beginning, and establish the full range of pressures, temperatures, and chemistries with which the valve needs to perform.”
Challenge: Knowledge Gap
Williams believes knowledge transfer is a significant issue facing the industry, as several industry professionals have recently voiced. “Piping and valve technologies – like many other mechanical plant technologies – receive little to no coverage in many four-year engineering programs in the U.S.,” he said. “In my education, there was no discussion of basic industry applications like flange selection or gasket technology, let alone complex topics like valve design or pipe stress analysis.”
“This means that new engineers must learn it on the job, either through dedicated corporate training programs, direct mentorship, or self-directed research – strategies each with inherent weaknesses. Senior engineers who possess the knowledge that needs to be transferred are often allocated to activities seen as higher priority than mentoring new engineers or building training programs. As for self-directed learning? As the old saying goes, ‘you don’t know what you don’t know.’”
Solution: Williams suggested that training programs be built by knowledgeable people within the industry, although that takes time and resources. They also need to be maintained to avoid becoming obsolete. “In industries where engineering mistakes can result in the loss of containment of hazardous chemicals, we need to do better,” expressed Williams. The source of the knowledge gap also needs to be addressed. “If the only visible opportunities for engineers to advance is to leave the engineering function and take a management or business role, the knowledge can will continue to widen. The industry can elevate the visibility of career technical experts.”
“I would like to see the industry offer a catalog of introductory-level training programs to bridge this gap,” explained Williams. “How do you specify a valve to ensure it is suitable for an application? What are the benefits and challenges of the piping joinery methods available today? These do not need to be advanced courses intent on producing subject matter experts, rather, basic courses that provide new engineers with a robust breadth of technology exposure – a foundation on which they can prepare to launch their technical careers.”
Looking Ahead
A trend Williams foresees for the future is end user companies employing a leaner design engineering function than we have seen in the past. “This is not necessarily bad,” he said. “By moving towards leveraging external design firms, companies build flexibility into their staffing for fluctuating capital support needs. Reduced overhead is good for any company, and it creates internal pressure to focus on the most impactful engineering challenges.”
“External firms are efficient design engines. But this model can also prioritize immediate value generation over longer-term goals that also serve the company’s interests, such as expertise development and transition planning. It is easy to establish the business impact of failing to execute a capital project on schedule, but what is the impact of your top SMEs retiring and not having a pipeline of engineers being developed to replace them? That can be much harder to define and assess, and easier to ignore.”
For new engineers, Williams’ advice is as follows – find the need, and fill the need. “Technical development can be a corporate blind spot, especially during tough business conditions, so you need to advocate for your own development. If your company is lacking a specific expertise, and it is aligned with your interests, build a plan for acquiring this expertise. Present it to your supervisor and make the case for why the company needs this expertise – and why you are the person to fill that need.”