Reflecting on lessons learned is always a vital aspect of turnarounds and projects, but occasionally, lessons learned take on a bigger role.
Looking back on 2021 and the rollercoaster it brought - from Winter Storm Uri to ongoing pandemic implications - was especially important to industry as a whole as many of the issues faced early in the year were still prevalent at the end.
Speaking on a panel at the AFPM International Petrochemical Conference, former Arkema CEO Richard Rowe; INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA CEO Mike Nagle; and Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) President and COO B.J. Hebert reflected on their biggest lessons and takeaways of the past year.
One of the biggest issues that created a learning curve was the supply chain crunch delays. Rowe said the current supply chain dynamic has been a challenge, but not without silver linings.
"We have an expression that's probably not unique to Arkema: 'Never waste a crisis,'" Rowe explained. "It's been a real challenge, and I think the challenge continues."
Both Hebert and Nagle acknowledged their companies were not nearly as prepared for the crisis in the supply chain as they would have originally assumed. The supply chain challenge has been multi-layered.
"A lot of us thought we had diversity in supply, then we find out those diverse suppliers were all [procuring] from the same person. So, we have to look deeper," Hebert said.
Nagle added that even though INEOS had multiple sources and plans in place in case of such a crisis, it wasn't enough.
"I think we learned that we probably didn't dig deep enough in where our suppliers were actually getting their raw materials," he said. "We've seen multiple suppliers ⦠all end up with struggles because their suppliers are having problems or sometimes even several layers upstream of that.
"It just goes to show how interconnected this industry is, but we probably didn't do enough up front to understand how interconnected it was."
Nagle added that to ensure a business is adequately protected by a diversity of supply, more should be done upfront to prepare for any challenges that could come up in a situation similar to what 2021 brought.
Hebert felt that despite shortcomings in the supply chain, the industry exhibited flexibility in changing how and where supplies came from. This agility helped companies stay afloat in their business transactions.
"Exploring that supply chain and really understanding your risk is something everyone is going to have to do," he added. "The world had moved to a 'just in time' logistics strategy, and you can see lots of different companies and industries are reevaluating that."
Rejuvenating the workforce after a heavy, frantic year was another topic of lessons learned. Both Arkema and CPChem have moved to a flexible and/or hybrid model of work for parts of their organizations. All three executives agreed that companies must recognize the exhaustion and fatigue in the workforce and evaluate how to address it for the well-being of their employees and the company.
"There is a certain level of fatigue that you have to recognize and build into your capabilities to give people a break, to get them to step back," Rowe said. "I think the core is really understanding what's fundamentally most critical, focusing on that and trying to make that clear to our teams."
Hebert acknowledged that the past year has not been an easy one. "When you think about the past 18 months, it started with the price war on crude, then COVID-19 hit, you had hurricanes and Winter Storm Uri, so people were tired."
Altogether, the men agreed that the past year has not been all negative; in fact, many of the lessons learned were already known. Nagle called them "lessons reinforced" instead of lessons learned.
"I think we all knew that we have the greatest workforce, and they certainly showed it here during this time," he said. "The ability to rapidly respond to an ever-changing set of conditions on our sites, both for our employees and our contractors, was just tremendous to see, and I think it also reinforced the criticality of this business and industry to society and the nation."
