#TeamStorengy: Daniela Friedrich

At Storengy Germany, we are very proud of our employees because they are an important part of our success. In our #TeamStorengy series, we introduce colleagues from different areas who enrich our company with their commitment.

Today we are talking to Daniele Friedrich. She is responsible for piping management and process engineering at various Storengy Germany sites.

What’s your job and what are your tasks?

I’m the system manager for process engineering and pipeline management at Storengy Deutschland Betrieb GmbH in Hanover. This means I’m responsible for maintenance within this specialist area.

Maintenance is a separate department at Storengy Deutschland. My tasks include repairing and maintaining the systems as well as planning and coordinating any troubleshooting – including with the support of external contractors. 

What does your typical day at work look like?

Well, no day is the same. It’s very varied and never gets boring. But by way of summary I would say that my day-to-day work involves coordinating tasks from various specialist areas, especially for maintaining and servicing the pipeline system at our six natural gas storage sites. The tasks can be both administrative and technical in nature. Because I’m responsible for several sites, I’m not only in the office but also support the operations directly on site.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

A very special – and so far also my biggest – project was carrying out intelligent pigging twice at one of our natural gas storage sites. Pigging is a standard method for inspecting pipelines, which I was allowed to carry out for the first time in Harsefeld.

It’s a complex process, as several components need to be monitored during the procedure – this doesn’t make it at all easy to implement and requires a considerable amount of planning and preparation. The pipes must be empty for the pigs, so we carry out this process during the annual shutdown – i.e. during the planned decommissioning of the storage facilities for maintenance purposes. The pipes are flooded with water and a “pigging robot” uses ultrasound to measure the pipes from the inside. If any irregularities are found in the pipes during this process, it’s my job to order the necessary repairs. So from ordering to documenting and monitoring the work, I’m responsible for the entire process.

The project was particularly special for me because it was the first big task after I was hired. Not only was the high level of responsibility challenging, but the entire operation was completely new to me. It makes me all the more proud that everything worked out so well: I successfully familiarised myself with the legal regulations, kept an eye on the technical interrelationships across all departments, and subsequently pursued active quality management.

I was able to draw on the experience gained from the first pigging the second time I carried out the procedure. The project also taught me to learn from mistakes. I grew with my task and had fun with my job. This combination of joy and responsibility is what makes a good job for me.

Why do you like working at Storengy?

There’s great cohesion in our team. In addition, I had a mentor at my side during my initial induction training, whom I can still ask for advice now without hesitation. All colleagues are helpful and if you can’t find an answer yourself, the team works it out together. Especially at the beginning this made it easier for me to familiarise myself with the many different areas of responsibility – so to put it succinctly: people cool, job cool!

How do you feel about gender equality at Storengy?

As a mechanical engineer, I’m used to my environment being male-dominated. In fact I was the first woman in this field at Storengy. But what I like most is that it’s never been an issue. As far as the job’s concerned, it doesn’t matter at all as to what gender a person has, and we don’t make any distinction in our team.

Visit our careers page to learn more about Storengy as an employer and discover exciting job opportunities.