Robert Perez is mechanical engineer with more than 42 years of rotating equipment experience in the petrochemical industry.  He has worked in petroleum refineries, chemical facilities, and gas processing plants.  He earned a BSME degree from Texas A&M University at College Station, an MSME degree from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a Texas PE license. Mr. Perez has written numerous technical articles for magazines and conferences proceedings and has authored 5 books and coauthored 6 books covering machinery reliability. He collaborated with machinery reliability expert, Heinz Bloch, on his most recent book Pump Wisdom: Essential Centrifugal Pump Knowledge for Operators and Specialists, 2nd Edition (Wiley 2022). He is also the technical editor of Kane’s Rotating Machinery Dictionary.

Specialties: Rotating equipment reliability improvement; Failure analysis and avoidance; Maintenance cost optimization for pumps, compressors, steam turbines, and gas turbines; Field assessments and troubleshooting, vibration analysis and machine dynamics.

Degrees and Licenses: BSME, MSME; Professional Engineer in State of Texas

Personal and Career Details:

Mr. Perez was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. After high school, he attended Texas A&M University in College Station, where he earned a BSME (Summa Cum Laude) in Mechanical Engineering. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was awarded an MSME degree in Mechanical Engineering. His career progression is show below:

• 1978 -1980: Exxon Company USA, Facilities Engineer in the Kingsville District.
• 1980 – 1998: CITGO Petroleum, Reliability Engineer at the Corpus Christi Refinery.
• 1998 – 2002: Flint Hills Resources, Machinery Engineer at the Corpus Christi Refinery.
• 2002 – 2007: Celanese Chemicals, Machinery Engineer in Bishop, Texas.
• 2008 – 2017: Enterprise Products Inc.,  Staff Reliability Engineer for the Central Texas Region.
• 2017 to present: Rotating Machinery Consultant, Trainer, and Technical Author.

Book Titles

1. Pump Wisdom, 2nd Edition, Wiley Publishing, March 2022.
2. Design, Modeling and Reliability in Rotating Machinery, 1st Volume in the Fundamentals and Advances in Rotating Machinery book series, Wiley Scrivener, January 2022.
3. Kane’s Rotating Machinery, Third Coast Publishing Group, Sep 15, 2019,Third Coast Publishing Group · Sep 15, 2019.
4. Operator’s Guide to Process Compressors, Wiley Scriverner, Apr 30, 2019.
5. Operator’s Guide to General Purpose Steam Turbines: An Overview of Operating  Principles, Construction, Best Practices, and Troubleshooting, Aug 8, 2016,Wiley Scriverner.
6. Troubleshooting Rotating Machinery: Including Centrifugal Pumps and Compressors, and More, Wiley Scriverner, Jul 12, 2016.
7. How to Select the Right Centrifugal Pump: A Brief Survey of Centrifugal Pump Selection Best Practices, Authorhouse, Jul 30, 2015.
8. Operator’s Guide to Rotating Equipment, Authorhouse · Sep 2, 2014.
9. Is My Machine OK?: A Field Guide to Assessing Process Machinery, Industrial Press, Nov 4, 2011.
10. Operator’s Guide to Centrifugal Pumps, Xlibris, Mar 4, 2008.

Career Highlights:

• Member of the Texas A&M Turbomachinery Advisory Committee for 10 years.
• Founding member of the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML).
• Founding member of the Coastal Bend Chapter of the Vibration Institute.
• Issued patent for “Hydrodynamic bearings having strain sensors,” Patent #6,766,697
• Regular contributor to the Gas Compression Magazine.
• Past contributor to Pumps & Systems Magazine.

Posts By: Robert Perez

1. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 18: Centrifugal Pump Monitoring Strategies (Excerpt)
2. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 17: Repair, Replace, or Modify? (Excerpt)
3. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 16: Using Failure Statistics and Root Cause Analysis Findings to Guide Reliability Improvement Efforts (Excerpt)
4. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 15: Fits, Dimensions and Related Misunderstanding (Excerpt)
5. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 14: Drivers, Couplings and Alignment (Excerpt)
6. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 13: Pump Condition Monitoring: Pump Vibration, Rotor Balance, and Effect on Bearing Life (Excerpt)
7. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 12: Lubrication Management (Excerpt)
8. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 11: Impeller Modifications and Pump Maintenance
9. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 10: Pump Operation
10. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 9: Mechanical Sealing Options For Long Life
11. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 8: Bearing Housing Protection and Cost Justification
12. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 7: Lubricant Types and Key Properties
13. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 6: Lubricant application and cooling considerations
14. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 5: Rolling Element Bearings
15. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 4 Piping, Stationary Seals and Gasketing
16. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 3 Foundations and Base Plates
17. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 2 Pump Selection and Industry Standards
18. Pump Wisdom: Chapter 1 Principles of Centrifugal Process Pumps