What to Expect When a Swagelok Field Advisor Visits

Our Field Advisory Team offers overall fluid system health checks and inspections focused on specific issues. Let's look at what to expect when a Field Advisor from Swagelok Edmonton visits your facility, and how you benefit.

Bringing a Field Advisor onsite is key to maximizing your value from Swagelok. That's because our detailed reporting shows exactly what will—and won't—make a fluid system operate more safely and efficiently. In other words, it can head off unnecessary spending that won't solve a problem.

Local Field Advisor, Tom Webster, offers an example: "One customer had fixed a massive leak over here at point A in the system, a few times. They had replaced hoses, which weren't cheap; they had changed fittings; they had stepped up maintenance and checked to make sure there weren't installation errors. They were trying to do everything right, but they continued to have leaks. When we were brought in for an onsite inspection, we were able to pinpoint the root cause really far down the line," he explains.

"The question we ask is, 'why is the leak here? There shouldn't be that much pressure.' The root cause was a failing regulator way upstream."

Most initial visits are booked for a four-hour period. If you need more time, we can plan to spend up to eight hours per day onsite. The makeup of the team is flexible too; we can have our full team of Field Advisors visit your facility, and/or add Swagelok specialists from outside our area by having them join virtually.

Before a visit, the Field Advisor you've been matched with may reach out by phone or email to refine their understanding of issues you would like to focus on during the inspection. They will likely ask whether or not there is a process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) they can review beforehand, so time is used efficiently while onsite.

Swagelok Edmonton will also ask for information about accessing your facility, such as where to enter, how to obtain a visitor badge if required, where to go onsite, and who to meet for coordination.

Our Field Advisor talks with you before starting their evaluation. Their goal is to fully understand your application and current situation. Then usually they'll ask to walk the floor of your facility. This enables us to get a sense of the role fluid systems play in operations, conditions day to day, and your people operating and maintaining systems.

If you know where to steer our Field Advisor within the facility, we head there to start an evaluation. For example, we can go straight to analytical instrumentation, a known compressed gas leak, a pump/mixer that is acting up, a boiler, or other areas of concern.

If you're not sure where to point our Field Advisor, that's ok too. Our team is brought in to track down and diagnose fluid system issues that eyes and ears miss. 

"Our expertise of potentially knowing where to look first is part of the value we bring to our customers," explains Swagelok Edmonton's Field Advisory Services lead, James Dickie. "We've been doing it for so long that we know where the typical leaks are."

With your permission, our Field Advisors have wearable technology that enables them to record and photograph what they observe and make hands-free notes. They can have other Field Advisors join an inspection virtually, too.

When an Advisor is conducting a leak detection survey, you can see results in real-time. The cost of leaks is displayed in dollars on the screen of our ultrasound camera, and we can print out the results of our inspection and include it in our detailed follow-up report. 

Your Advisor concludes the onsite visit with initial observations and answers to any questions you might have. After analysis of our findings and consulting with other Field Advisors, they provide a peer-reviewed report and recommendations on the best-value way forward.

Request a free onsite demo by our Field Advisory Team

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Also see:

• Finding and Solving Sampling System Problems with Help from Edmonton Valve (New Video)
• With Augmented Reality Headsets, Swagelok Field Advisors Assist from Miles Away
• How Edmonton Valve Leverages the Global Field Engineering Expertise of Swagelok