Protecting high value assets with AMPP

Juan Caballero, Chair of the AMPP Board of Directors, talks to Elizabeth Corner about:

• The merger of NACE with SSPC to form AMPP.
• Materials protection challenges in 2025.
• AMPP’s training programmes, including a sneak peek into the newest offerings.
• Industry trends and how AMPP views sustainability.
• Which certifications are currently in demand. 
• Digital learning for pipelines.
• Regulations that we need to pay attention to now. 

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Sponsoring this episode of the World Pipelines Podcast is the TDW SmartPlug® Isolation System — The safest inline isolation system on the market. Learn more here. 

Creators and Guests

Host

Elizabeth Corner

Elizabeth leads the editorial teams at World Pipelines, commissioning articles and features, and representing the magazine at industry events.

Guest

Juan Caballero

2025 Chair of the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) Board of Directors, and Managing Director of Naval and Industrial Solutions

What is World Pipelines Podcast?

The World Pipelines podcast, with Elizabeth Corner, is a podcast that connects and unites pipeline professionals to learn about issues affecting the midstream oil and gas industry.

Elizabeth Corner: 00:02

Hello. Welcome back to the World Pipelines podcast. In this season of the podcast, I am catching up with people from membership associations for the pipeline sector. Sector. Throughout the series, I'm talking to pipeline association representatives from all over the world to explore what they do and how they do it.

Elizabeth Corner: 00:23

In this episode, I am joined by Juan Caballero, who is board chair at AMPP, the Association for Material Protection and Performance.

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Elizabeth Corner: 01:18

A little bit of bio for Juan. Juan is an industrial engineer with over twenty three years of experience in protective coatings, corrosion control and asset integrity across pipelines, oil and gas, marine and energy sectors. As the 2025 Chair of the AMPP Board of Directors and Managing Director of Naval and Industrial Solutions, he leads sustainable corrosion management programmes that enhance infrastructure resilience and regulatory compliance. Khoan holds dual Masters degrees and multiple international certifications, and is also an AMP instructor, an award winning educator, committed to advancing global industry standards through ethical leadership, mentorship, and collaboration. So hello and welcome Juan, did you like that introduction?

Juan Caballero: 02:09

Hello, Elizabeth. I'm very happy to be here. I'm very happy to be invited to the War of Pipeline podcast and be invited today. So I really look forward to our interview and share some insights with the audience. And I'm here ready to go.

Elizabeth Corner: 02:27

Now it has been four years since the merger of NACE International and SSPC to form AMPP. How has the association evolved in these years and what benefits has the murder brought to the industry?

Juan Caballero: 02:43

Okay, great question, Elizabeth. of all, I would like to mention that director and also right now in my role as the twenty twenty five onboard chair, I have really seen a great change in the association that have bring very positive outcomes. And this merger about the two legacy associations that were globally recognized as SNACE and SSPC really brings more than a structural merging. It brings really a strategical merging in order to better help our members or stakeholders, the users worldwide, and also bring good things for the industry. In the last few years, I have been working at a board level with our new COO, Alan Thomas, and we have been really working in a very compact way, taking care of the strategical insight, strategical view for the future of the association.

Juan Caballero: 03:47

And we are really making a good progress on how to scale our association and better serve our membership, better serve our stakeholders and all the end users around the globe. So I really see a very positive outcome in this merger and every day is getting stronger.

Elizabeth Corner: 04:08

Now you'll have a unique perspective on this next question. I want to ask what are some of the biggest challenges that pipeline operators are facing in terms of corrosion prevention and materials protection today? Where do we see the most danger?

Juan Caballero: 04:24

Yeah, I think that that's another great question. I think that our biggest challenges in different countries, we can mention countries like The USA, UK, some countries of Europe, but there are also other countries that maybe are not the best advancement of the industry, but I think all industry as a whole shares a main challenge and is that most of our pipeline networks are aging infrastructure. So I think that there is a unique opportunity to really empower all the associations that protect the assets against corrosion, empower the new workforce development and empower all professionals around the world on how to better protect our agent infrastructure and keeping them in a very integral way, keep their integrity, keep their safety on their installations and also contributing to sustainability. So I think there is the biggest challenge that we as a corrosion and materials protection community, we really need to join together and fight against corrosion and protect our high value assets.

Elizabeth Corner: 05:45

And with that in mind, how do AMPS standards and training programs help address those challenges? What are you doing about those problems?

Juan Caballero: 05:54

In all the progress that I mentioned at the beginning, I think one of the main initiatives that the new organization have been trying to focus on is to listen to our members, listen to all the users, to all companies that are facing these challenges on firsthand. So the association is really trying to achieve is to get all these ideas, all these challenges into a funnel where we can really working with our education department, working with all the subject matter experts that contribute with them to see how can we continue to improve our training or certifications and all the workforce development efforts into a new scope that can really help owners, that can really help end users and our members globally to face these challenges. Through education, we are trying to empower the workforce, empower owners, empower all the stakeholders. And also with this vision on how to address these new challenges that the industry always is looking into new perspectives.

Elizabeth Corner: 07:11

And when you say listen to your members, what does that look like? How are you listening to them? How do they get in touch with you?

Juan Caballero: 07:19

That's a very important question as well because we as an association, we have strived to be closer to the market. I think that through different initiatives that we have been implementing, having town halls, we have been really realigning our program committees to better serve the association and to better serve the members. And that's where we can get like the primary ideas and the primary challenges that our community is having. But at the same time, can tell that staff and the executive levels and the board levels also have been interacting a lot with the different members around the globe. And I think that that is the best way where we can really get in touch to our members and really go into their countries, going to their regions and really understand what are their challenges, see with our own eyes.

Juan Caballero: 08:22

So I think that this is the best way. We have been trying to collect this information, closer to our members, being closer to the market, being closer to the industry, and at the same time, that information and working through all our channels in order to make it and work it as a better service and better benefit to our members and to the industry.

Elizabeth Corner: 08:46

I wonder what trends you are seeing in the industry regarding materials protection and sustainability.

Juan Caballero: 08:53

That's another great question. It looks like you have always great questions to ask. So yes, I think that currently sustainability has been a topic maybe some years back. It was like a trend, but I think that right now sustainability is a topic that is not anymore a trend. It's a necessity that we as humans of the planet, we really need to embrace.

Juan Caballero: 09:20

And what I'm seeing is that sustainability to protect our environment, make a better world, have a direct line with what all the corrosion professionals practice around the world because corrosion professionals are the ones that really take care of the different asset infrastructure and really extending the life cycle of the assets through better material selection, through better corrosion prevention mechanisms. We can mention some like cathodic protection. We can mention some like protective coatings, internal corrosion, but this as a whole, really works directly with what sustainability is about. It's protecting our assets, make a safer world for everybody and protecting our resources. At the end, if we can have longer life cycles of the assets, it means that we will not require so many materials and resources from our mother earth.

Juan Caballero: 10:27

I think this pretty aligns with the sustainability development goals that are quite related to corrosion prevention.

Elizabeth Corner: 10:35

I'm interested in what types of people and companies typically join AMP. So we talked about sustainability, which is a very broad field. Who particularly becomes a member of AMP and what are the key benefits of membership?

Juan Caballero: 10:52

Yeah, basically we really have a wide range of members. I think this wide range goes from the top to the bottom and to the bottom to the top. I think that we can start naming asset owners. We can start naming process engineers, material engineers. We have also the more hands on technical personnel like inspectors, like craft workers.

Juan Caballero: 11:17

And we really have a wide range of professionals that really take part in our association. And every voice is important to us because in this ecosystem to protect assets and to encourage sustainability, we really need every player out there to really enforce from their specialties to really enforce asset protection, human safety, and a more sustainable world.

Elizabeth Corner: 11:47

Are there any new membership initiatives or programs that AMP is particularly excited about?

Juan Caballero: 11:53

Yeah, there are quite some. I think that I can give you a little sneak peek of what is going on in AMP about new developments of training and courses. I think we are about to launch some. We also have the certification and accreditation program. So there is also a new initiative to launch some new accreditation programs like quality procedures, the programs that we call QP that will be more focused on cathodic protection companies.

Juan Caballero: 12:27

And also we are working on some new developments as fireproofing contractors. So we are advancing from just having the certified professionals to also having accredited companies or corporations that also embrace new developments like the ones I have just mentioned, fireproofing, cathodic protection, and some others that we are also working on. And it has been a really continuous improvement also for previous courses that now have a more friendly user scope. And it has been me as an instructor also having the opportunity to teach some of these courses. I have really seen a big difference, a big positive difference on how these courses are delivered and how the professionals and students really are embracing them and receiving them with a very positive outcome.

Elizabeth Corner: 13:35

Yes, we must make the most of your qualifications as an instructor because I understand that gives you a really great perspective for talking about this stuff. What are some of the most in demand certifications right now? What's popular?

Juan Caballero: 13:48

I think historically the protective, the CIP that is the coding inspector program And also the cathodic protection certification have been like two of the top certifications that historically have been out there. But I also always talk to my peers and to my industry friends about other certifications that really are important that what a coatings professional or a cathodic professional or a corrosion professional in order to fortify their careers. And I'm talking about some specialties that, for example, for the coding programs to the which are more related to, And we have a specialty, for example, in Marine, we have specialties in fireproofing, corrosion on the resolution. We have a specialty in nuclear power plants. And also there are other specialties in development like the fusion bonded epoxies inspection and application.

Juan Caballero: 14:57

So there is a lot of applications and specialties that also complement professionals, careers and certifications.

Elizabeth Corner: 15:05

And how do you ensure that your training programs keep pace with new technology and changing industry demands?

Juan Caballero: 15:13

Yeah, that's a fantastic question. I think that, for example, there is a work that is a joint work together of our education department together with different subject matter experts around the globe that are the ones that are face to face in the field every day. So there is a lot of interaction between our education department and expert members that contributes to the development and to the maintenance and improvement of our courses. And usually we have summits where this education department, certification department and accreditation department get together and have discussions on new trends, new challenges in the industry. And that's where there arrive the opportunity for improvement and continuous development of our course offers around the world.

Elizabeth Corner: 16:14

Do you see digital learning and virtual certifications playing a bigger role in the future? Is that where we're heading?

Juan Caballero: 16:22

Oh, yes. I think that virtuality is something that we know get more stronger after the pandemic crisis that we had in some years ago. But I think that after the pandemic, AM have started to develop more online courses, more virtual instructor led trainings. We cannot leave behind the future that is already here about artificial intelligence. I think that this is something that will also get stronger and stronger every day.

Juan Caballero: 16:59

And this is something that our association is already looking into it and having a forward thinking on how artificial intelligence will continue to play a big role in our lives, in our everyday life, but regarding training, this will also be incorporated as we progress forward.

Elizabeth Corner: 17:23

My last two questions are very future facing, so let's continue in that vein. Are there any upcoming changes in regulations that pipeline operators should be preparing for? What's on your urgent list at the moment?

Juan Caballero: 17:36

Okay, I think among all the regulations, if we can have more regulations in order to better protect infrastructure, I think that the gas energy and other new developments like hydrogen, for example, are taking a lead position in our industry. And with them the policies and new regulations are coming behind because this new technology can maybe force us into a new set of challenges that we need to prepare as an industry to take care of them and properly give the right infrastructure and asset integrity that these new energies and developments and technologies are coming and are under development right now. We need to prepare for the future. So that's where the policymakers are doing their part, but we as an association and other associations as well, I'm sure we are all together doing our part to really get prepared for what is coming ahead.

Elizabeth Corner: 18:48

And lastly, how well is the industry addressing the impact of hydrogen, as you talked about, and other alternative fuels on pipeline integrity? Is the industry prepared for that transition?

Juan Caballero: 19:03

I think there's still more to do, but I can say that in my personal opinion, I think that as an industry, we are in the process of preparing for that. I think that associations like EM are really trying to stay ahead of the game regarding on how to protect the infrastructure. And as I mentioned, the new technologies will bring new challenges. So I think that we are on track as an industry, but for sure, associations like AMP and other associations working together can really make a difference in order for us as corrosion professionals or as users of industry that really have the challenge to protect against corrosion, have good participation on the future today so we can better prepare for that.

Elizabeth Corner: 20:01

Thank you so much for talking to me Juan.

Juan Caballero: 20:03

Yeah, it has been a pleasure and I look forward to future collaborations.

Elizabeth Corner: 20:10

It was a pleasure to talk to Juan Caballero at AMPP about its work bringing together a global community of professionals who want to keep pipelines safe and protected, and to find out more about how AMP leads on key issues such as materials performance, corrosion, and integrity. Thanks for listening to the World Pipelines podcast. Subscribe for free wherever you get your podcasts. If you have enjoyed this episode, please rate and review and forward to a colleague or friend.

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