Channeling Utility Challenges into Technology Innovation

An Interview with Brian Youngpyo Jo, Senior Manager of Product Engineering 

Innovation often comes from pain, says Brian Youngpyo Jo, Senior Manager of Product Engineering at Xylem. 

Catastrophic failures were the catalyst for many proactive pipeline management programs in place today. Born from pain, these programs are now delivering numerous benefits for communities around the world. 

To help utilities better understand and manage buried infrastructure, inspection and monitoring technology has advanced significantly over the last three decades. 

“Piloted inspections have worked well for many utilities, but they can require long shutdowns, expensive dewatering, and safety measures for people entering the pipeline,” Brian says.  

Technology advances have greatly improved the ease and efficiency of inspections. Free-swimming tools like PipeDiver and SmartBall operate while the line remains in service, minimizing or even eliminating shutdowns, dewatering, and confined space entry. 

Current technology can tell utilities whether there is a problem on the pipeline and where it’s located with a high degree of accuracy. However, inspections still require significant utility input. For example, utilities may have to modify the pipeline to provide access points and supply pipeline drawings and planning profiles to locate pipes and features. 

“These are extra costs and effort for the utility,” Brian says. “We want customers to benefit from the end result, the data, without the level of effort required today.” 

Water and wastewater pipelines are critical to our everyday lives, but it’s easy for them to go unnoticed until there is a problem. However, the water industry is at a critical moment. Buried infrastructure is aging, and safeguarding water supplies is becoming more crucial for our future. 

^{Xylem’s flow loop and testing lab enable to the team simulate pressurized pipeline conditions and conduct rigorous testing on new and existing assessment technology}

Brian believes that making condition assessment increasingly accessible can help utilities solve these challenges and provide more reliable water services. 

“Every utility wants to understand their pipelines, but some simply can’t because they don’t have staff to support the project, they don’t have drawings, or they don’t have access to the line,” Brian says. “We want to change the game for these utilities.” 

Born in South Korea, Brian has a background in electrical engineering. He started his career in 1995 as a research & development engineer in the consumer electronics industry working for companies like Sony, Panasonic, and Toshiba. Later, he led the development of mobile internet platforms for a startup in the telecommunications sector.  

“It was difficult because everyone worked insanely hard for long hours due to fierce competition and culture, but I think it was an important fundamental experience for me,” Brian says.  

Usability emerges a critical key to success in the dynamic consumer electronics and telecommunications industries. 

When Brian moved to Canada in 2006, he joined a pipeline condition assessment company that later became Pure Technologies, a Xylem brand. Today, Brian leads a team of talented product engineers and technicians with the same drive to make inspections easier, improve access to condition data, and ultimately help society.   

“It takes commitment to go beyond the status quo, to not settle for business as usual but to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” Brian says.  

Beyond a committed and experienced team, successful product development also relies on rigorous testing. Designing technology for pressurized pipelines is uniquely challenging due to the variable operating environment. Within Xylem’s flow loop and testing lab, the team can ensure tools deliver guaranteed performance under varying flow conditions and difficult line configurations. Piloting and validating in the field, under real-world conditions, helps further verify tool passage and data collection.  

Xylem has pioneered development of pipeline assessment technology for over three decades. Innovation is a continuous process that builds on our past successes, failures, and customer challenges. Today, we’re harnessing that experience to minimize the effort and disruption utilities face when planning, preparing for, and performing inspections. 

“At the end of the day, we have the talent, experience, and commitment to create tools and services that are truly easy to use, and so we will,” Brian says.