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Brad Beach
Born and raised in Indiana, next door to Purdue University. 3rd generation engineer. Musician.
Brad persistently aims for a better way. He has success making change happen by running experiments.
Twelve years at Schlumberger Wireline taught him how to understand technology from its first principles, how to operate a high-tech service business in a complex environment, and how to function with a “dual perspective” - keep the business running today and improve for tomorrow.
One year at BiSN taught the importance of trust. Without trust nothing will go well.
Four years at Evonik has shown that while the technical details change, the principles of operating a business, making things happen, and experimenting for improvement is the same for every business and every one.
Which leads to this insight - what I’ve learned at Schlumberger, BiSN, Evonik, can be adapted to any business of any size, if only we can make the right connections to the right assets in a frictionless way.
Let’s have a conversation, aim to do something together, and see where it goes.
brad@steamchest.org
Heathcliff Howland
I knew I wanted to work with machinery the first time my grandfather took me to his machine shop. I followed him around as he stopped to talk with each machinist on the shop floor. The machines were the coolest things I'd ever seen, the parts they spit out were beautiful and the people operating them seemed god-like.
Fast forward to Chignik Alaska, 1986. I landed a summer job working on the 'slime line' of a fish processing ship called the M/V Icy Cape. Outside the bunkhouse was the door to the engine room where Mike, the Chief Engineer worked day and night. He was a mechanical genius. On the trip from Seattle to Chignik before salmon season started, he fabricated the entire slime line out of stainless steel and hydraulic gear. Every day he was in and out of the engine room with his earmuffs on, fixing things. Even though he never let me into that engine room, Chief introduced me to the world of machinery and systems.
A few years later I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies and went on a surf trip to New Zealand with my best friend. Everywhere we went we were welcomed into homes and onto farms. The people we met knew how to build and fix things - everything. They were mechanics, welders, electricians, hat makers, honey makers, felt makers - not by trade but because that's what needed to get done.
When I got home I moved to San Diego and took a welding class at Mission Bay High School. My teacher, Mr. Berggren, took me under his wing as an apprentice shipfitter. He was building a 79 foot fishing boat at a small shipyard in Chula Vista. There were days when he'd leave me alone at the yard to fit sections of that boat all by myself with just a bunch of drawings and some soapstone sketches on steel plate. I still can't believe he let me do that. He's the one that convinced me to go to the California Maritime Academy. Thank you Mr. Berggren, that changed my life.
Neil Holmgren
My love for machinery began as a teenager with a passion for old cars & engines. I expanded these interests at the California Maritime Academy where I got my hands on marine engine systems, received an engineering degree and went to sea.
Over the years I have pursued many opportunities and interests without ever taking my hands off the engine throttle. After several years in shoreside and sea going engine work, I sharpened my design skills developing surgical tools and then went back to school to study and eventually teach sociology. During the years working with surgeons and scholars, I maintained my connection with industrial machinery by shipping as an engineer or consulting shore side.
In 2014, I started my own company where I currently provide solutions to owners and operators of industrial engines and their related systems.
It is common for me to talk with other engineers and reflect upon the element of engineering that brings the most joy. I have heard many wonderful answers over the years. For me, it is the culmination of so many efforts and talents that converge on the moment when we press the “Start” button and things simply work as they should. It is the collaboration that is invigorating.
neil@steamchest.org