Mitch Krutilek hit the ground running when he joined Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) Cedar Bayou as plant manager last January. The site was already engaged in its U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project to build a 1.5 million metric tons/year (3.3 billion pounds/year) ethane cracker. But Krutilek has a bit of history with the site that has helped with the transition.
“I worked here 1990 to 1998, so I have worked at this site almost a decade now and have been involved with both it and the people here for many years,” he explained. “When I worked here 20 years ago, we were in a period of expansion, and here we are again in another period of expansion. It is an exciting time for us.”
Originally from Texas, Krutilek earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He began his career with Chevron USA in 1986 in the engineering department at the Port Arthur Refinery. He held various engineering, maintenance and operations supervision positions with Chevron USA and Chevron Chemical before the company separated and merged its chemical business with Phillips 66 in 2000 to form Chevron Phillips Chemical. Since 2000, Krutilek has held various management positions with Chevron Phillips Chemical including operations manager and plant manager at the company’s Pasadena facility from 2010 to 2012.
Before his appointment as plant manager at the Cedar Bayou facility in 2015, Krutilek served as general manager of projects overseeing the successful completion of large-scale expansion projects for Chevron Phillips Chemical’s domestic and international manufacturing sites.
“In this position, I support the plant in a number of ways,” he said. “I am responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the plant. On a day-to-day basis, I assist the management and supervisory teams, and my time is spent planning for long-term success.
“It is like running any large business. You have a lot of pieces of your job you have to do to get your job done. You have to spend time being in touch with people so you are visible and people know you. You need to have good communication skills to be able to connect with people at all levels. Here at the plant, we need to be able to create an environment that gets the most out of all of our employees and motivate people to excel.
“We want to ensure we get the right people in the right jobs and provide mentoring and training so they can be successful. In the end, it is about building a team. It is a team sport, and we have to get everyone working together as a team and supporting one another.”
Cedar Bayou plant
Located 28 miles east of downtown Houston on Interstate Highway 10, the Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, has been in operation since 1963. The plant is situated on 1,700 acres in the heart of the Golden Crescent, a 700-mile strip of the Gulf Coast that produces more than 80 percent of the petrochemicals manufactured in the U.S. The site produces ethylene, propylene, normal alpha olefins (NAO), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyalphaolefins (PAO) and 1-hexene.
The team’s cooperative efforts extend beyond the fence line as they work together in the community.
“It is important we are part of the community,” explained Krutilek. “Most of our employees live in the local area. We have a responsibility to support the community. It is our license to operate in Baytown. It isn’t a right. It is a privilege.”
The Cedar Bayou facility actively supports the community through United Way of Greater Baytown Area and Chambers County, Keep Baytown Beautiful “Adopt A Site,” Habitat for Humanity Baytown, American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life,” Baytown Wetlands Center and Junior Achievement.
Another top priority is safe operations.
“Safety is our top value,” said Krutilek. “Everything we do starts with safety — both personal and process safety. We have a long trend of a good safety record.”
The Cedar Bayou plant was one of the first sites to become an OSHA VPP “Star” site, and it has more VPP “Star” companies working at its site than any other in the U.S. This is backed by a host of safety efforts including a plant safety committee, annual health and safety fair, a STAR (Safety Together Achieves Results) Team, regular safety meetings, Contractor Safety Leadership Council, among many others.
“In our company, we have tenets of operation,” explained Krutilek. “These give us guidance on how to handle certain situations. Protecting people first is our foundation, and that sets the hierarchy of what is most important. And it just moves up the ladder of importance from there.
“People want to come to work here in a safe place where they feel productive and have job security. Our license to operate and to be a responsible operator is to provide a safe environment for ourselves and for the community.”
Workforce development
“We have spent a lot of efforts on workforce development to fill the pipeline,” said Krutilek. “We knew we were going to be having a large amount of hiring.”
Chevron Phillips Chemical believes in supporting educational initiatives to help foster interest in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), as well as other educational endeavors to strengthen the local industry. One such initiative involves scholarships, mentoring and co-op opportunities for Lee College students studying process technology, instrumentation technology and electrical technology. The scholarship requires the recipient to participate in the mentor program.
“We are the only company that offers that,” said Krutilek. “The person is paired with a veteran employee who is where they want to go. There are opportunities for operations and maintenance technicians to work hands on in the plant. This is a good way for them to see if this is the kind of career they want and to see if they are the right candidate for us. And hopefully they apply for a full-time position.”
The site is hiring about 100 new people a year to add to the 2,000 people involved in the daily operation of the site. That is approximately 800 company personnel and 1,200 nested contractors. But those numbers are much larger right now as the company is involved in its large expansion project.
The USGC Petrochemicals Project consists of the expansion at the Cedar Bayou site along with two 500,000 metric tons/year (1.1 billion pounds/year) capacity polyethylene facilities to be built in Old Ocean, Texas.
The Cedar Bayou plant is roughly 50 percent through the project timeline, and it is currently in the construction phase. There are 3,000 additional people on-site dedicated to the project. Start-up is expected in 2017.
“Our new unit is world scale,” said Krutilek. “It will increase our site’s daily production by roughly 50 percent, and it will add 200 full-time employees.
“We want to be viable for the long term and offer a secure future for all of our employees here — to be a place our employees are proud of and would be happy to have their children come to work here.”
Chevron Phillips Chemical
Cedar Bayou facility
9500 I-10 East, Exit 796
Baytown, TX 77521-9570
(281) 421-6500
www.cpchem.com
Employees: 800 employees and 1,200 contractors
Products: Ethylene, propylene, NAO, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PAO, 1-hexene
Size: 1,700 acres
