Thomas Hess is a rotating equipment engineer at the Valero Delaware City Refinery. He is responsible for improving reliability and reducing life cycle cost for the machinery in the refinery. His primary activities include mentoring and training, risk-based decision making, root cause failure analysis, vibration analysis, and reviewing and developing procedures. Prior to joining Valero, Mr. Hess worked for the ARCO Chemical central engineering group providing consulting services for ARCO facilities world-wide, and Bently Nevada as a field vibration analyst. Mr. Hess has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University . He is also a member of ASME, the Vibration Institute, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania .