Associate Consultant
Bill Adams

William (Bill) Adams has 50 years of experience in the flexible plastic piping materials industry, specializing in flexible plastic materials, piping products and piping applications. As an accomplished professional, Bill has authored and revised numerous ASTM standards, and has used his technical writing expertise to edit and author chapters in plastic piping engineering handbooks. Bill has designed pipe extrusion dies, process equipment, and has process engineering experience. Bill is experienced in product liability litigation, has been deposed numerous times, and has testified at trial.  

• Expert in solid-wall polyethylene (HDPE) pipe manufacture, testing, performance 
• Expert in standards for pipe and fittings, testing, manufacturing and performance requirements
• Expertise with fabricated polyethylene pipe fittings
• Expert in plastic pipe joining – heat fusion and mechanical 
• Expertise with plastic piping, applications, uses, advantages,  limitations
• Expertise in historical plastic piping material development
• Skilled in technical writing  – standards; product literature; documents; presentations
  

Experience
​Private Practice
2014 - Present
Terre Haut, Indiana
Senior Engineer/President 
Industry Consultant

• ​Confidential consultant for plaintiff's counsel - Litigation on gas pipe failure resulting in property damage and injury – Assisted counsel on product manufacturing, failure analysis, defect analysis, defective product analysis – settled in favor of plaintiff
• Confidential consultant for gas utility counsel – Litigation on defective pipe – Assisted counsel on product manufacture, defect analysis, defective product analysis, defective manufacturing practices – Settled in favor of gas utility 
• Southern California– Assisted City Engineer in assessing desalinization system HDPE pipe joining and fitting failures
• Technical writing - ASTM Standards writing and revisions - Alliance for PE pipe - Newsletter article on AWWA C906-15

WL Plastics Corp
2004-2013
Fort Worth, Texas
Senior Engineer

• Developed and updated company product literature
• Company representative at ASTM, AWWA, AGA, PPI, ASME, CSA
• Conceived and developed new ring tensile testing procedure (ASTM D2290 Procedure D)
• Developed FM-Approved product line
• Technical product and applications assistance for all WL Plastics products

William I Adams Consulting
2003-2004
Batavia, Illinois
President 
Technical writing

• Editor, AWWA Manual of Water Supply Practices M55 Polyethylene Pipe–Design and Installation, 1st  Edition, 2006
• Author, Chapter 2 “Inspections Tests and Safety Considerations”, PPI Handbook of Polyethylene Pipe (1st  Ed.)

Industry consultant

• Consultant for counsel for HDPE manufacturer in litigation involving a death during the field unloading of large diameter HDPE pipe – Case settled in favor of HDPE manufacturer
• Evaluated plastic materials and adhesives for use in electrochemical applications. ​

Performance Pipe
2000-2003
Plano, Texas
Senior Technical Service Engineer

• Developed and updated post-merger company product literature
• Company representative at ASTM, AWWA, AGA, PPI, ASME, CSA
• Technical product and applications assistance for all Performance Pipe products

Plexco/Spirolite
1984-2000
Bensenville/Franklin Park, Illinois
Product Development Engineer
Special Projects Manager
Applications & Technical Specialist
Technical Services Manager

• Authored 3-Volume Plexco/Spirolite Engineering Manual, - Vol. 1 Engineering Properties, Vol. 2 System Design, Vol. 3 System Installation
• Developed and updated company product literature
• Company representative at ASTM, AWWA, AGA, PPI, ASME, CSA
• Technical product and applications assistance for all Plexco and Spirolite products

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Nipak
1983-1984
Dallas, Texas
Technical Representative

Argon Medical Corporation
1983-1983
Athens, Texas
Project Engineer

Nipak
1981-1982
Corsicana, Texas
Staff Engineer

• Designed pipe extrusion dies
• Upgraded extrusion line with electronic temperature controls and nuclear wall thickness monitoring and control

Certainteed Corporation​
1980-1981
Chowchilla, California
Mechanical Project Engineer

• Designed and developed educator system for extracting glass cullet from sump​

Nipak
1974-1980
Fresno, California
Engineer

• Upgraded 2 PE pipe extrusion lines for large diameter pipe, designed and developed pipe extrusion dies, cooling tank upgrades, takeoff upgrades
• Upgraded rework facilities
• Upgraded material handling facilities

General Tire and Rubber Company
1972-1974
Evansville, Indiana
Engineer

• Designed and developed equipment for butt-fusing PVC profiles for pickup truck windows

Dataprofits Corporation
1968-1972
Indianapolis, Indiana
Mechanical Designer

• Circuit board layout and electrical enclosure design for first of its kind programmable electronic timer – “Quantachron” electronic timer replaced mechanical cam timers and increased equipment production by 20%

Education

• AAS-MET, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1967
• BS-MET, Purdue University (IUPUI) Indianapolis, Indiana, 1969
• CE Courses in Plastics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1984
• CE Courses in Product Liability,University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 1996
• Dredging Engineering (Short Course),Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, 1996

Featured Publications and Papers from Bill

• HDPE Pipe, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency certified 1-hour CE course, 2013
• The Development of Allowable Stresses in HDPE Pipelines, ASCE Pipelines Conference, 2013
• A Historical Perspective of HDPE Piping Material Development, ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Conference, 2011
• Editor, AWWA Manual of Practice M55, PE Pipe–Design and Installation, 2006
• Chapter 2 author AWWA Manual of Practice M55, PE Pipe–Design and Installation, 2006
• Chapter 2 author, Handbook of Polyethylene Pipe, First Edition, PPI, 2006
• Views on PE Pipe Durability, SPE International Polyolefins Conference, 2006
• Authored Plexco-Spirolite Engineering Manual (3 volumes), 1992-1993
• Large Diameter Polyethylene Gas Piping, PCGA Distribution Conference, 1990
• Design of Polyethylene Piping for Oil Patch, Interpipe Conference, 1986

Awards

• ASTM – Award of Merit/Fellow 1996
• ASTM – COTCO Special Service Award 2002
• ASTM – Committee F17 Ayers-Wilging Award for Professionalism 2014
• ASTM – Committee F17 Reinhart–Kuhlman Award 2004
• ASTM – Committee F17 Paul Finn Memorial Award 1994
• ASTM – Committee F17 Special Service Award 4 awards
• ASTM – Committee F17 Certificate of Appreciation 3 awards

Contact Bill