Located in the town of Westlake, Louisiana, the Phillips 66 Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex is growing its local footprint with construction of a $200 million isomerization unit, capitalizing on its current achievements. As of December 2018, the facility had an outstanding record of almost 6 million hours and 44 months without an employee recordable injury. Richard G.
Harbison, plant manager of the Lake Charles complex, calls this "a remarkable accomplishment." Harbison has led the facility for three years, but he acknowledges it's more than just leadership that fosters this kind of achievement.
"There is no single key to success for safety, but rather the development of a safety culture in the facility that takes years to mature," he explained. "Employees own and manage programs that promote safe work practices."
One sure sign of safety culture success was achieved in 2017, when the facility was awarded the industry's top safety recognition: the AFPM Distinguished Safety Award.
Harbison said Phillips 66 employees believe they can work safely -- without injury -- and are responsible for maintaining their own humility in the organization, which he believes is vital to this success.
"Humility is an important license to question how we are preparing to perform our next task and provides the courage to stop work if we are not prepared to execute safely," he added. "Phillips 66 employees and service providers work hard each day to stay engaged in our safety program and continue to make the next right decisions."
Joint efforts with the United Steel Workers and the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) have impacted the site's safety performance, too. There is also a self-administered on-site safety program known as CAPS (Changing Awareness Produces Safety) and the recently established Phillips 66's Life Saving Rules, which have helped the organization focus on what is important for maintaining a safe work environment and safe work practices. Harbison also explained that maintaining a strong relationship with contractors -- including a mature onboarding and mentoring program -- helps sustain the overall safety culture. By continually "refreshing" the importance of safety, the facility has been able to maintain its safe work environment.
30 years of serving the industry
Harbison began his industrial career in 1988, when he earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering -- industrial studies from San José State University in California. His first industrial position was with Unocal Corp., also in 1988, as an operator at the Richmond, California, terminal.
From there, he worked for Tosco's San Francisco-area refinery as a project engineer before joining Phillips 66 in 2007. From 2007-2012, Harbison served as the operations manager at the Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery in Washington state, and in 2012, he transferred to the Los Angeles refinery to serve as operations manager of the Wilmington site. From 2014-2016, Harbison returned to Washington to manage the Ferndale refinery.
With more than 30 years of experience in a variety of leadership roles across refining, pipeline and terminal organizations, Harbison has proudly led the Phillips 66 Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex since 2016. He works to ensure there is a safe work environment for all employees and service providers, manages the profit and loss statement for the facility, and develops business growth opportunities.
When he first moved to the Lake Charles refinery, Harbison set meetings with the employees, learning the strengths and weaknesses of the plant to form a common vision for the facility's future. After that, leadership created small focus groups, analyzed the facility's gap analysis and employee opinion surveys, and listened to individuals tell their experiences.
"Through that process, we developed a vision for the complex into the future to close performance gaps and improve both the work environment and the profitability of the plant," he said.
The Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex, completed in 1941 to process crude oil for high-octane aviation fuel for WWII war planes, today primarily produces petroleum coke, gasoline, diesel, propane and jet fuel for distribution throughout the U.S. The facility currently has a daily crude throughput of 249,000 barrels -- far from its original design to process 7,500 bpd for planes. The Excel Paralubes facility, a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Flint Hills Resources, produces an average of 7.7 million barrels of lube base oil annually.
However, the transportation fuels market, while competitive, is relatively stagnant in growth forecasts, Harbison explained. To get ahead, competitors are working to increase their overall efficiency. Harbison said this has been an ongoing goal at his complex, too.
"We are positioning the facility to become more efficient and improve utilization of the existing assets to be more competitive in this market," he said.
A strong legacy
Having been active in Southwest Louisiana since the 1940s, Phillips 66 is proud of the community relationship it continues to foster through support and involvement.
"We invest in programs that provide sustainable community development and are consistent with our core values," Harbison said. "Our philanthropic efforts help create well-educated citizens, support a sustainable environment and foster safe communities."
Harbison explained that Phillips 66 has been fortunate to develop a positive corporate reputation met with strong support from the Southwest Louisiana community. The company continues to grow its strong legacy in the region through volunteering and donations.
In 2018, Phillips 66 volunteers gave back 3,800 employee community service hours in Southwest Louisiana. Phillips 66 and its employees are active in numerous community programs, serving on boards or as members of many local organizations, including nonprofits, local religious organizations and various business groups. Some of the programs employees and the company have participated in include Bowl for Kids' Sake, put on by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana; the Phillips 66 Community Advisory Panel; Partners in Education for Westlake High School, LaGrange High School, Pearl Watson Elementary School and Barbe Elementary School; Relay for Life by the American Cancer Society; Special Olympics; and United Way of Southwest Louisiana.
Last year, the complex provided more than $785,000 in grants and sponsorships to local nonprofits supporting environment and sustainability, education and literacy, community safety and preparedness, and civic enrichment. Combined, employees and Phillips 66 contribute more than $569,000 annually to the United Way of Southwest Louisiana.
As plant manager, Harbison is directly involved in the Southwest Louisiana community. He is a board member of the Lake Area Industry Association, United Way of Southwest Louisiana and Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce. He said being a part of these local organizations helps connect the people working inside the facilities with the local community and also supports a flourishing local economy, healthy community and workforce development.
Harbison is also a member of the Louisiana Chemical Industry Alliance board, which he said is important for keeping abreast of current industry issues, as well as a part of grassroots advocacy among plants, service providers and suppliers.
Growing to surpass the competition
Phillips 66 is continuing to reach for success in Southwest Louisiana, Harbison noted.
"We're currently constructing a new isomerization unit to increase production of a higher-octane gasoline blending component, which will allow us to consistently produce premium-grade gasoline for the market," he elaborated.
He added that there are several more expansion projects at the Lake Charles location planned over the coming years. The projects will focus on the plant's ability to process North American crudes, increase octane in the gasoline pool and improve Phillips 66's logistics to deliver products to the marketplace. He sees the transportation energy industry continuing to be competitive domestically and worldwide, and he said Phillips 66 plans to stay abreast of the competition.
"Our vision is to make this facility highly competitive and positioned to operate well into the future," Harbison said. "We will produce products that have the highest netback into the facility so that it is profitable, providing high-wage jobs for the next generation while maintaining our privilege to operate in the Westlake community."
Phillips 66 Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex 2200 Old Spanish Trail Westlake, LA 70669 (337) 491-5211 www.phillips66.com
Employees: Approximately 770
Products: Petroleum coke, gasoline, diesel, propane, jet fuel and lubes base oil
Size: 690 acres
