Jeff Searls
Large-Scale Operations: My Engineering Mindset Began There
I’ve been with Compass Minerals for 4 years. Over the course of my 35-year career, I have had the opportunity to serve in both operations and engineering roles. The first half of my career was in operations and I really liked it. In production environments the teams’ results are scored and measured every day, you know where you stand.
There is a strong feeling of accomplishment when the team hits daily, weekly targets and when the team overcomes adversity. I’m an operations guy at heart and find that my operations experiences have most shaped the way I think about engineering activities. So, I tend to lead engineering teams with the same drive, focus, accountability and determination that it takes to lead a successful operation. The specific goals, objectives, targets and daily measurements are different; but the same approach is effective.
Efficiency, Safety and Innovation: Understanding Comes First
Most of my career has been at facilities that were in operation for 50+ years before I joined. Although it is natural to challenge the way things are done when you are new to a site or company, I have come to realize that a lot of smart people came before the rest of us who did an amazing job designing, building plant facilities and processes. Incremental changes can be dangerous.
Unless you really understand the site, processes and in particular the culture it only takes a few well-intentioned actions to cause disruption to a stable operation. So, while I value urgency in action and implementation, I have also learned to value rigorous attention to details and reviewing options and risks. By this I mean deep understanding of the problems, the root issues and the pitfalls of different solutions as they apply to the specific facility and site.
How do you balance operational efficiency, safety and technical innovation – a good project delivers a solution that improves each of these areas. Unfortunately, sometimes what appears to be the best technical innovation, or OEM equipment solution won’t work at a specific site if not understood, embraced and most importantly supported by the entire site team. So, the engineers working to improve efficiency, safety and implement new innovations must understand how the solution will both impact and be perceived by operations and maintenance teams and address their concerns. This is best done by actively getting input, collaborating and communicating with these groups.
Maintenance Strategy Today: Proven Methods Guide Innovation
My experiences have been in established large-scale heavy industrial metal and chemical plants where operational consistency and stability are high priorities. Tried and proven approaches are often the best solution for smaller incremental upgrades and improvements to existing operations. If it is not broken don’t try to fix it with new or unproven equipment or technology, unless these have been fully tested and vetted.
“Engineering teams on their own will make assumptions and mistakes, they need to recognize fundamental knowledge of the issues and solutions often lies out in the field talking with operators and maintenance people.”
Emerging technologies are exciting and game-changing, so at the same time if you are not looking at new and emerging technologies and evaluating ways to integrate them into your systems you are not improving and you will fall behind.
For existing older facilities that often have gaps in facility engineering drawings and documentation, LiDAR scanning is a wonderful engineering tool to map existing conditions and assist in detail engineering for equipment replacement, modifications and facility upgrades. Combining drones with LiDAR, thermal imaging or UT is another great tool that we constantly find new ways to support both engineering and maintenance teams.
Most plants today have equipment and process data overload. Data is often plentiful; but not of much value if not accurate, organized and correctly analyzed in tandem with business financial data. Being able to pull different data sets together for meaningful use is powerful as you measure and evaluate your current situation, develop project justifications and later validate improvements.
We are just starting to use and trust AI as a tool to assist with some of our process engineering challenges and so far, have found it to be a useful tool.
Complex Operations: Better Solutions Come from Collaboration
It really starts by having the right members on the team, and then relentlessly encouraging sharing and cross collaboration with each other and then with the Operations, Maintenance and other teams. Engineering teams on their own will make assumptions and mistakes, they need to recognize fundamental knowledge of the issues and solutions often lies out in the field talking with operators and maintenance people.
Advice to Peers: Lead Where Problems Happen
Get involved in operations or maintenance.
For those that aspire to grow into leadership roles in industrial operations, I fully recommend they experience being a Shift Supervisor in operations. When problems arise at 3 am you will learn more about problem solving, dealing with equipment issues, teamwork and leading people than you will ever learn hearing about it in the office during day shift.
