Paul Bowers Author & Editor

Richard Beale has over 40 years of plant layout and piping design experience on upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas industry projects in the employ of engineering, fabrication, construction and producer companies. His career started as a junior piping draftsman in 1974, and over the years he has held the roles of piping drafter, piping designer, piping squad leader, project piping lead, design and drafting department manager, and technical support to fabrication and construction. He is currently employed by a major oil and gas producer in Engineering Information Management. Having witnessed the technological transition from manual design and drafting to 2D CAD and 3D CAD, he holds a firm belief that a key ingredient to full realization of successful project execution through the adoption of new design technology is being lost. This being a corresponding erosion of experienced design and drafting practitioners possessing of the abilities to develop, modify, and execute new and existing design and drafting procedures that complement the changing technology. It is this belief that has stirred him to write this book as a way of filling the experience gap Paul Bowers is a senior piping designer with over 30 years of experience working on major process plant projects including refining, cryogenics, pulp & paper, petrochemical, industrial gas installations and SAGD as well as CAD/engineering automation administration. As a software and technology enthusiast Paul believes that machines must adapt to humans and not the other way around. Currently residing in the Montreal area, Paul has been owner of the PipingDesign.com domain since 1998 is currently webmaster / web developer / "Digital Administrator" and a director with the Houston-based Society of Piping Engineers and Designers as well as founder and past president of the Calgary chapter of the same organization.