As a principal engineer with a degree in chemical engineering, and as an ACA corrosion technologist, John Kalis has over 45 years’ experience in corrosion and cathodic protection engineering, primarily in oil and gas pipelines.
From as early as the 1930’s, cathodic protection (CP) has been widely used around the world to protect buried or immersed steel pipelines from the potentially devastating effects of corrosion. As the pipeline industry developed in Australia throughout the 1960’s, so did the cathodic protection industry.
At the forefront of this movement was John Kalis, one of the true pioneers of the CP industry.
Kalis has dedicated many years of committed service to the pipeline industry. His corrosion engineering expertise has influenced and bettered Australia’s outstanding corrosion related pipeline safety record.
He has been involved in the corrosion industry for over 45 years, beginning his journey as a young graduate chemical engineer with Wilson Walton International in 1977. Following which he joined Corrpro before finally finding his place as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Corrosion Control Engineering (CCE). Kalis has been at the helm of CCE and has dedicated himself to the company for the past 20 years.
Nevertheless, the years with Wilson Walton would prove to be crucial in Kalis’ development as a corrosion engineer, he would gain experience on several large and renown projects such as the Sydney to Moomba and Dampier Bunbury Pipeline.
One of Kalis’ most memorable projects was as a young, city born and bred, 25 year-old engineer in charge of the installation of the impressed current CP systems on the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline. A massive job, Kalis had initially been tapped to perform the initial survey of the pipeline and had not expected to be placed in charge of such a comprehensive and expansive job.
“Initially my task was to survey all the CP sites for the pipeline and perform soil resistivity tests so the company could perform the CP design work,” he says.
At the time, Kalis notes, he wasn’t slated to go out and perform the installation on-site; however, due to issues with team cohesion, Kalis was asked to step up into the role of leader.
“I didn’t think too much about it,” says Kalis. “I probably could’ve let myself be daunted by the size and needs of the project and what we were setting out to do, but I saw it instead as another challenge.”
Kalis had only been with the company for a year and a half by this stage and this was only his first real experience working in the field.
“To this day, being able to deliver such a large project on time and on budget and knowing that the systems have performed well over their life is definitely a highlight of my career.”
It’s clear that Kalis did more than just a good job on the Sydney to Moomba Pipeline project, because a year and a half after the completion of his work on the project he was promoted to the role of manager of Wilson Walton’s New South Wales division.
By the time Wilson Walton International sold to Corpro in 1988, it had become one of the largest corrosion engineering companies in Australia thanks, in part, to Kalis’ nurturing hand. Kalis worked for Corrpro as managing director for a short while, before stepping into the role of CEO for CCE in 2003.
Beginning as a one-man-operation, CCE has become one of Australia’s leading corrosion prevention specialists thanks to Kalis’ guiding hand. In addition to its use of cathodic protection to preserve buried or immersed metallic structures from natural and chemical corrosion processes, CCE also routinely undertakes corrosion failure investigations and its regional warehouses stock a wide range of CP and pipeline related products, materials and technical equipment.
In 2003 CCE opened up an office in Victoria and later opened up an office in Queensland in 2005. Just a few years later, in 2010 the company opened up an office in Western Australia shortly before opening an office in New Zealand in 2013.
Speaking on his seemingly magic touch when it comes to establishing innovative corrosion engineering companyies, Kalis attributes that a lot of the success of CCE stems from not only his wholehearted enjoyment of the work he does but also the people and staff he’s been fortunate enough to surround himself with.
“There are people working for CCE that I have known for almost 40 years,” he says.
“Prior to us joing Eptec we had about 100 staff and so I’ve certainly felt a huge responsibility to all my staff ¬– and to their families – to ensure that the company operates as efficiently and successfully to make sure they can feel secure in their place at CCE,” Kalis says.
With CCE having joined Eptec Group, Kalis has taken a step back from his role as CEO but nevertheless continues to work for CCE in the capacity of executive director. With responsibilities now focused on ensuring that both CCE and Eptec can work alongside one another to help further strengthen each other, Kalis is looking forward to the opportunities that are primed to unfold.
“Ultimately what we’re looking to do is to provide a total corrosion mitigation solution to the clients, in which Eptec is able to undertake all the works above ground or above water while we handle all the work below ground and below water,” says Kalis.
While the synergy of CCE and Eptec is a major focus for Kalis throughout the rest of his career, he’s also determined to continue mentoring young, up-and-coming engineers and help point them in the right direction when it comes to strengthening their skills and knowledge.
“I have been fortunate and blessed in my career that I’ve managed to find myself in a profession that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. It has been challenging at times, but I can look back and say it has both satisfying and worth it,” says Kalis.
“I think the company has got a really great future ahead of itself, with Jason Paterson stepping into my role as CEO.
“I’ve worked closely with Jason for the past seven years and I’m confident that we’re just going to remain as the dominant company for CP and corrosion mitigation in Australia and continue to grow under his care,” he says.
For more information visit CCE’s website.
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This article is featured in the November edition of The Australian Pipeliner.