Mr Vipin George IEng, FCMI, CMgr, CMSS, CQA has achieved a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and has 22 years of experience in oil and gas upstream and EPC.

Currently as a ‘Solopreneur’ with his SME, ‘VGQAE FZE’ in the UAE, he has a contract with the API (American Petroleum Institute, USA) for “Consulting Services for Auditing for APIQR/Monogram Programs.”

Vipin joined The Welding Institute as a Professional Member in December 2014 after being certified as CSWIP Welding Quality Control Coordinator. He tells us his journey through engineering and how being a MWeldI Member has aided him in his career!

Engineering and Career Background 

Why did you choose a career in engineering?

When I was young, I was fascinated by science and mechanical engineering as an evergreen field, and how it can help you adjust to any domain within industry. My background is quality and hence I am more into industry domains such as oil and gas, Industry 4.0 such as SMART manufacturing, and welding. Quality is my passion and I contribute individually and to organisations to make process improvements through my work. Quality in context is a broad domain, and specific areas I have interest in include quality assurance and quality control, welding, coatings and manufacturing. I have been a lifelong learner and therefore any areas where I can flex my mind and contribute to problem solving is of interest.

What’s one of your biggest career highlights or achievements that you’re most proud of?

I’m proud of my professional achievements such as being an Incorporated Engineer with the Engineering Council and The Welding Institute, becoming a Certified Quality Auditor with ASQ, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, Certified Management System Specialist and a speaker at the Auditor Expo Forum with Exemplar Global USA, and now a Lead Auditor with the American Petroleum Institute USA.

I believe in continuous professional development and professional membership has boosted my confidence level. From being a shy introvert to gaining such professional recognition in my journey, with God’s amazing grace, it gave me a new persona.

What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your career and how did you overcome this?

There have been many challenges in my 22-year long career; however, I remember one distinct challenge in carrying out weld repair of a cladded dish, which had excessive pitting. The base material was clad bonded with carbon and ferrite steel. Consequently, this made the selection of welding consumable a challenge as well as maintaining the customer requirement of ferrite content. We used advanced NDT techniques such as PAUT and TOFD to identify any cracks after depositing the repaired welds. After conducting trials and iterations, we could finally see that the customer was happy as we overcame the problem through application of engineering codes and best practices.

Another challenge was that I was tasked with setting up EN 1090-1 and ISO 3834 execution class II certification. The challenge I was posed with was that this company did not have an existing QMS and hence developing QMS and realigning procedures and process to meet EN 1090-1 and ISO 3834 was difficult. I developed a welding quality manual, including welding procedures as per EN 15614 and fabrication process control procedures. My Incorporated Engineering certification helped me to qualify as a Responsible Welding Coordinator as per the criteria set by the notified body as per EN regulations. With the application of engineering codes and standards and aligning QMS processes to meet product conformity, awareness training of employees led to getting the execution class II certification for the company.

Early Professional Membership

Why did you initially join The Welding Institute?

TWI is a known training provider for welding and engineering and so I registered with The Welding Institute after attaining the CSWIP Welding Quality coordinator certification. I was looking for further enhancement of my overall portfolio and hence I applied for the incorporated engineer route.

Professional Registration and Membership

What is your professional registration title/grade?

I am an Incorporated Engineer (IEng).

When and why did you choose to become professionally registered?

I became an Incorporated Engineer on the 29 January 2015.

The Engineering Council is a widely known professional body and, since I was a CSWIP Welding Quality Control coordinator, I thought the next step in my career would be professional recognition and that’s how I got in touch with The Welding Institute.

How has Professional Registration with the Engineering Council supported you in your career?

Professional registration always helps you to distinctively standout and has consequently helped me on my next qualification as a Chartered Manager. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) ensures continual improvement and now I’m also a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

How has Professional Membership as MWeldI supported you in your career?

My professional membership helped me to become a Responsible Welding Coordinator (RWC) with my previous employers and I also met their Notified Bodies’ RWC criteria, even though I was not an IWE/IWT.

Current Membership

What membership benefits do you use the most and find the most helpful and why?

The job knowledge and weld-search sections are useful as well as the webinars.

Future (Membership and Career)

What are your engineering aspirations?

My current aspiration is to be a subject matter expert in quality. I would like to learn new concepts in plastic piping inspection/composites, which is widely used in the oil and gas industry these days, however, less guidelines are available on how this can be achieved. With Industry 4.0 and 5.0 and The Welding Institute’s 100 years of experience in the welding industry, it can help shape the future generation.

Would you recommend Membership with The Welding Institute and why?

Membership with The Institute as a professional is useful to enhance your knowledge as you have access to the library. My Incorporated Engineer certification has helped me on my CPD to achieve other industry accolades and I am still learning.

What advice would you give or what would you say to your younger self beginning your career in engineering?

Invest yourself in enhancing your knowledge by joining such membership bodies where you have access to case studies, membership newsletters/magazines and journals, and volunteering opportunities, which will broaden your existing skills and experience.