Clark Luhning valve specialist

Age: 31

Title: Territory manager
Company: Tyco Flow Control
Location: Fort McMurray, Alta.
Education: Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria

What do you do?

I'm a valve specialist. There are no schools that specialize in this technology; you learn through experience. I've torn down a lot of valves doing failure analysis, I've consulted on design and sizing the best valves to meet the customer's application, and I've sold valves. Right now, I manage Tyco's shop in Fort McMurray-as far as I know, we're the only valve manufacturer that has a service operation in this region.

What drew you to this industry?

When I was a boy, I was obsessed with figuring out how things work. I collected old watches and took them apart-of course, the real challenge was trying to put them back together! I also have a strong family connection to the oilsands; my father helped develop SAGD [steam assisted gravity drainage] in its early days. I worked on Suncor's Firebag SAGD project before I began working with valves.

What sort of valve jobs do you handle?

Valves used for bitumen production and processing are really large-our seven-person shop in Fort McMurray has performed the biggest jobs ever seen in Canada, and maybe North America. We just brought in a 33,000-pound test stand that can handle ANSI and API valves as well as knife gates. I constantly juggle between regularly scheduled jobs and unexpected situations, which typically need a rush response.

Our work is often performed under high-pressure conditions. Right now, for example, we have two very large valves in the shop that were damaged in a fire. Until they're repaired, a customer's coking unit will remain down, and that's expensive. These are specialty valves that we've seen in our shop before. After reviewing our previous service records, we had an idea of what was coming and issues we could be facing. This allowed us to proactively source the required parts and material and to meet the deadline.