WRB Engineering

Specialty: Forensic mechanical engineering
Management: William Broz, president
Year founded: 2005
Headquarters: Seattle



Broz
Broz

After being in the mechanical and engineering design field for 20 years, Bill Broz decided to turn his full attention to forensic mechanical engineering.

As a founding member of McGowan Broz Engineers of Bellevue, Broz dedicated most of his time to design, project management, firm management and marketing.

His new venture, WRB Engineering, formed in August, lets Broz be an investigator. It’s something Broz said he used to do as a side business.

Broz investigates systems or components, such as HVAC, plumbing and failures in industrial piping.

“As opposed to design, my focus is on looking at things that go wrong and determining the root cause,” he said. Broz said he cannot disclose current clients, for privacy reasons.

He said a recent case involved the failure of an industrial pipe, which discharged oil. Broz consulted on the repair, oversaw the repair inspection and directed testing.

“I made sure that when it was back in service, it was done right,” he said.

Broz was then called by the pipe owner to determine the cause of the failure. Using computer pipe stress analysis, he isolated the problem to a flange joint.

“It had not been engineered into the system, and it made a difference,” said Broz. “It was one of those ‘CSI’ moments, when everything ties neatly together.”

Broz often serves as a consulting expert for attorneys in such cases, though he said in this case he did not.

Although Broz said he could have joined another forensic mechanical engineering firm or been a consultant to such a firm, he prefers being a sole proprietor. He said he plans to expand the volume of his business but not add employees.

“I enjoy the independence of having my own business and being able to select clients and cases and run the practice the way I want to,” he said.



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