For Bobby Tupper to properly execute his role as maintenance excellence manager for Motiva, he must expertly coordinate with planners, schedulers, operations maintenance personnel and others to execute their own work processes as well as maintenance work processes - but that's not all.
"The other piece to the role is around contractor performance and management, and that part may be unique. I don't know that a lot of other sites have that," Tupper said during the AFPM Summit: Excellence in Plant Performance. "It's really effective when you have somebody that can focus in that area."
Tupper considers himself "more of a third party" for the contractor.
"If there's an issue with Motiva, or even an issue with the contractor, I'll typically get involved and help one or the other to smooth out the situation and get the right people connected."
Tupper said he believes that approach carries a lot of value.
"Execution managers that are trying to get the work done sometimes have a different perspective than someone who's looking at all the different execution groups," he said.
Looking at things "from a site perspective" is especially vital, Tupper said, in maintaining positive relationship between the contractor and the company.
"That's the most important thing," he said. "A lot of the things we do on the front end are technical, and we step through those processes. But when it gets to the contractor coming on site and managing that relationship, it's more personal. That's something I'm very aware of. If somebody comes to me and says, 'Hey, I'm having this problem with a Motiva person; what can I do'? I try to use data mostly. Don't put the contractor in a bad situation where it's going to damage its relationship with that particular person."
Tupper said "it's interesting to see the vast difference in leadership styles" among companies that seek to become contractors with Motiva.
"You get some that are super professional, and they are on top of their game. They know what they're doing," Tupper said.
Then, of course, there are other companies that are unprepared and "just winging it," he said.
Everything may look good on paper, Tupper explained, but direct conversations sometimes tell a different story.
'The conversation doesn't feel quite right, you know, so I think that's a key step in the process," he said.
Following a meeting with a perspective contractor, Tupper will ask his team what they heard that stood out to them.
"We try to get a feel for that company's leadership style, and how they are going to be able to support this contract," he explained. "You might have a smaller company that isn't big enough to support the size of the contract, but they're engaged and really want the opportunity. You've got to weigh all of that during the process."
In his role as VP of Maintenance Operations with Echo Maintenance LLC, Steve Brisendine's association as a contractor with Motiva's management goes back to 2001.
"There was a lot of learning on both sides of the aisle," Brisendine said, highlighting the importance of clear, consistent communication among all parties at Motiva's "massive site," as he put it. "One thing that really helped the most was the engagement and the touch points, and that was from every level of Motiva's organization. Even with the general manager - we got to know him on a first name basis. I talked to him at least once a week, but that was important to him. And that translated down to every level."
This level of communication, Brisendine said, "makes a massive difference for us because we start fine tuning into where they expect us to be. It's good for the health of the organization."
A side benefit of that communication, Brisendine continued, is the trust it generates.
"We've built quiet a level of trust," he noted. "From our perspective, it's been extremely valuable. It makes our job so much easier and enables us to chase that continuous improvement process a lot more efficiently."
