Empowering Pumps recently began inviting people to Nominate a Pump Professional, and today’s Pump Person of the Week is Andres Gonzalez, Reliability Engineer with Saudi Aramco. This is what he had to share!

Q. How did you get started working in the Pump Industry?

Andres: After completing my Mechanical Engineering degree in Venezuela in 2001, I started working with a pump manufacturer as a service engineer focused on service, repairs and upgrades for the oil and gas sector. After a few years, I became the Operations Manager for the East Coast region. In 2014, I joined Saudi Aramco working as a Reliability Engineer in Abqaiq Plants, which is the biggest crude oil stabilizer plant in the world.Our plant has the capacity to produce over 7 million barrels of oil per day. Currently, I’m directly involved with technical reviews and working to increase the reliability for large crude oil pumping systems. In addition, I’m also part of the Pumps, Seals and Mixer Standards Committee for Saudi Aramco; we work to implement improvements on the international standards applicable to Saudi Aramco equipment.

Q. What is your favorite part of your job? What are you most proud of? 

Andres: Being part of this amazing team gives me great satisfaction. I can see every day how people really appreciate the effort made to improve things. We learn everyday new things and we share the knowledge with all of our colleagues. I like to participate in technical meetings where we can exchange ideas and learn about the best practices in the industry. I’m proud to work with an enthusiastic team where there is no limit for improvement. My favorite part of my job is seeing our recommendations implemented and seeing positive results.

Q. What advice would you give to someone new to the industry? 

Andres: Pay attention to details! Ask questions as much as you can, and never give up to achieve the goal you have in mind. It is really important to understand how things work and to really know how to get the information. Nobody expects you as an engineer to have an immediate answer; however, you should know how to get the answer.

Thank you, Andres, for being our Pump Person of the Week! We look forward to keeping up with you through the #PumpTalk Community!