That feeling when...mechanics spark an engineering passion

 Rosário Malheiro works as a Condition Monitoring Specialist in Portugal, within Valmet's Automation Systems business line.  

Did you know from a young age what you wanted to do as a career? 

“No! Today I can say that one Christmas my father gave me a construction toy set for girls with nuts, bolts, rollers, and wheels. The nuts were flower shaped, and I fell in love with it and would assemble and disassemble the pieces, building things. Later, in the 10th grade, I developed a passion for physics, particularly kinematics, and knew I wanted to study physics. At that time, I already loved motorcycles and had an old Vespa. Mechanics became natural because it was the engineering of movement.”

You're now a service engineer specializing in monitoring, but you didn't start your career in this role, did you?

“Correct, I started in the field of combustible gas storage licensing, provided a lot of training in safety, and even did a postgraduate course in Emergency Management at the National Firefighters School in Sintra, Portugal. Then I worked as a Sales Engineer, and it was when I discovered vibration analysis. I invested in my training in this area and joined Valmet with a clear desire to leave sales and specialize in vibration data analysis.”

What do you do in your current role? 

“The core of my job is analyzing the vibratory behavior of paper machines as a maintenance and reliability tool. Vibration is an excellent indicator of the wear of mechanical components in rotating machines, and vibration analysis systems allow us to assess the time needed for maintenance or replacement of a component. These data are very specific, and my role is to analyze them, providing as much indication as possible of the source of the problem and the time we must act. Besides this, I train clients, both in-person and remotely, help develop our product and assist in sales by promoting and presenting our product to clients.”

What has been your greatest professional achievement so far?

“It's hard to say but I finished my degree when I had already been working for a few years, and that was one of the greatest. Another was changing my career path by specializing more in the purely technical area, as the usual path is the opposite. It has been a daily achievement to learn about machines and processes in a more practical environment, with which I had little contact before.”

How do you deal with mistakes?

“It depends on the day, but I try to accept mistakes as part of learning and improve on what I failed. The truth is that the fear of making mistakes is an enemy of development, and I try not to listen to it much. It's better to make a small mistake than to stay in the same place. When it comes to owning up to mistakes, if I was involved, I take responsibility very easily. When I detect it, I'm the first to talk about it to resolve it as quickly as possible and mitigate consequences.”

Have you ever experienced a moment at work, especially in a refinery, that felt like it was straight out of a movie?

“The first time I saw a paper machine live, I had this feeling; I didn't imagine it could be so big! The same in a control room, seeing all the programmable logic controllers (PLC's) lined up with images of the processes happening simultaneously was worthy of a science fiction movie!”

What message would you like to leave to others who are now starting their professional life in this area? 

“Be curious, want to learn, and ask everything that is not clear to you. Be certain that no one knows everything and that we all have at least one skill or characteristic that is special and useful. Build bonds with colleagues, don't forget that machines are our work tools, but colleagues are our companions and can help us a lot, either by sharing knowledge or experiences. The best memory I have of all the jobs I've been in is the people. Lastly, don't be afraid; life is full of challenges, and engineering teaches us that most processes are reversible!”

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