Jose Trevino prioritizes a culture of continuous improvement at Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) to drive success in his role as plant manager.
"I believe the most important skill as a leader is being able to strengthen the capability and performance of an organization by establishing a culture of continuous improvement in the key areas of EHS performance, unit reliability and cost efficiency," said Trevino, CPChem plant manager for the Sweeny, Clemens & Old Ocean (SCO) facilities in Texas.
"There are various ways of accomplishing this, but from my experience, the most effective and sustainable way is motivating all employees to develop a mindset of ‘doing better’ every day on every task and empowering them to be solution and execution focused."
A native Texan hailing from the Rio Grande Valley, Trevino was named plant manager eight months ago and oversees three facilities that produce ethylene, polyethylene, propylene and 1-hexene.
Paving the way for this substantial responsibility early in his career, Trevino’s first paying job was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) school library while simultaneously working toward his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He later completed the Executive Education Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Trevino fosters push for excellence amidst CPChem’s continual growth
Jose Trevino, Sweeny, Clemens & Old Ocean Plant Manager, Chevron Phillips Chemical
One of the three facilities Trevino is responsible for — dubbed the Sweeny Complex — was built in 1944 and is one of the world’s largest single-site ethylene facilities, capable of producing over 11 million pounds of ethylene per day.
CPChem’s Old Ocean facility also falls under Trevino’s purview and includes two world-scale polyethylene units that produce 2.2 billion pounds of plastic resin annually. The Old Ocean Rail Operation Facility supports the polyethylene units with full and empty railcar storage and staging, railcar maintenance and other transportation functions. At an approximate length of five miles, the railcar facility has the capacity to store over 1,500 railcars.
CPChem recently completed construction of the world’s largest on-purpose 1-hexene unit at the Old Ocean facility. The new unit brings the company’s total U.S. 1-hexene capacity up to 646k mt/yr.
Additionally, the company has salt dome storage operations at the nearby Clemens Terminal.
Trevino said people are the most important asset the company has, and an important goal for him is to strengthen employee engagement for every employee, every day, in every task.
"My vision of SCO is to be the safest, most environmentally compliant, reliable, cost-efficient plant and a preferred site to work driven by teamwork, continuous improvement and a culture of care," Trevino said. "We also aspire to be a premier industrial presence in our community, and the preferred supplier to our customers."
He said the facilities at SCO have a rich history in the community, going back nearly nine decades.
"We are proud to be part of a legacy of providing good jobs and economic benefits for the region," Trevino said.
The primary opportunities for growth at SCO are continuous improvement of performance in EHS, unit reliability and cost efficiency, Trevino said.
"Our performance in all these areas is strong, and we need to continue challenging each other to get better. Employee attrition is another challenge we are managing effectively through strategic hiring," he said.
"From my experience, the best approach in driving excellence in performance is to start by establishing a vision of what the expected outcome will be and engage with all employees to ensure they understand the end result and motivate them to be part of the solution and help drive the change required. They have to see value in the change and be committed to the outcome."
Trevino fosters push for excellence amidst CPChem’s continual growth
Aerial footage of Chevron Phillips Chemical Sweeny & Old Ocean facilities
Trevino said achieving a top-tier safety record at the facilities is always a priority. The SCO sites are OSHA VPP Star Sites and recently received the 2022 AFPM Elite Silver Safety Award.
SCO is on track to achieve one of its best years with respect to safety performance, Trevino said, an accomplishment he credits to a program called "Our Journey to Zero."
"We have achieved this safety performance while also achieving preparation for, and execution of, a major turnaround and construction, commissioning and startup of a new operating unit," he said. "We attribute this success to active employee engagement with multiple opportunities for employees and contractors to provide and receive feedback on risk assessment and reduction."
Trevino said the company also strives to be a "neighbor and employer of choice. We care about each other, our work, our customers and our communities."
Donations include $35,000 to the Crafts Academy at Brazosport College; $20,000 to process technology classes at Wharton County Junior College; $1.7 million to Sweeny ISD for the CPChem Career and Technology Center; plus $100,000 to support the construction of the Sweeny Community Hospital.
The new 1-hexene unit at Trevino’s Old Ocean site has become a major economic engine for the surrounding region according to a company statement, creating 600 construction jobs and 50-plus fulltime positions.
In addition to this expansion, CPChem has other growth projects underway that include a sizable undertaking between CPChem and its long-term collaborator, QatarEnergy — a JV called Golden Triangle Polymers Company, named for the Texas region encompassing the city of Orange. The $8.5 billion integrated polymers facility is estimated to generate $50 billion over 20 years and create high-paying American jobs, Trevino said.
Once operational, the facility’s ethane and high-density polyethylene capacity will be over 2 million mt/yr, with startup for the 1,600-acre site expected in 2026.
The same two companies are also jointly developing a separate petrochemicals project in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, Trevino said. The 435-acre project site will include an ethane cracker with a capacity of 2.8 million mt/yr of ethylene, making it the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world. It will additionally include two high-density polyethylene derivative units with a total capacity of 1.68 million mt/yr. Construction has begun and startup is expected in late 2026, Trevino said. The plant will create an estimated 550 full-time jobs and 14,000 construction jobs.
Amidst all this growth, Trevino, with 28 years of experience performing tactical and strategic operations leadership roles, is pleased to play an integral role as one of CPChem’s leaders.
"Jose brings an extensive operations background with proven leadership capabilities," said Bryan Canfield, Sr. VP of Manufacturing with CPChem. "We are pleased to welcome him to our team and to the nearby community."
For more information, visit cpchem.com/sweeny.
