Company:

INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA

Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees are empowered to make a difference?

Job Title
Lab Superintendent

Location

Chocolate Bayou Works – Alvin, TX

Organizational context and job purpose

Business Context

The O&P USA business includes the product lines Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Polypropylene and High Density Polyethylene. Manufacturing sites include Chocolate Bayou Works (Alvin, TX), Battleground Manufacturing Complex (LA Porte, TX), and Carson, (Carson, CA), with a division office in League City, TX.

The Main Purpose of the Role

The Lab Superintendent is primarily responsible for the safe, efficient, and cost effective management of all laboratory quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) activities and services for CBW Olefins, Polymers and Oligomers products. The Lab Superintendent has extensive technical knowledge to ensure QA/QC for two INEOS businesses and three different product lines.

The Lab Superintendent manages 21 lab personnel and ensures products shipped from the Chocolate Bayou site meet customer and product specifications.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

The Lab Superintendent is accountable for understanding and putting into practice the INEOS 20 Principles. Additionally, the Lab Superintendent has a special responsibility to cascade the understanding of these principles through the team.

Accountability 1: Safety Health Environmental (SHE) Performance Leadership

Provide leadership in SHE/PSM and ensures the analytical group meets and exceeds all SHE standards and expectations, follows policies and procedures, and champions the MOC and related PSM processes
Ensure appropriate lab personnel involvement in SHE systems, processes and committees
Ensure incidents are documented for all nonconformance events
Actively direct efforts for excellence in environmental performance
Follow and enforce INEOS 20 Principles; has direct responsibility for 20 Principles behavioral and process safety protocols

Accountability 2: Quality Management Systems

Maintain ISO 9001 certification and compliance per company policy
Participate in internal and external ISO audits and achieve zero non-conformances
Ensure the quality management system is maintained in the lab according to ISO standards and GMP requirements
Ensure quality control documents are created and maintained per the ISO standard
Approve all specification and new test changes
Ensure all raw materials, feedstocks and products meet INEOS and customer specifications
Oversee calibrations and maintenance programs for lab instruments, safety equipment, general equipment and infrastructure
Develop and enforce a strategy to prevent non-conformance occurrences
Support the quality management process and provide oversight to ensure the materials produced and services rendered meet or exceed customer requirements
Ensure analytical methods in use by the lab are current per ASTM, ISO and good manufacturing standards
Participate in ASTM round robin studies

Accountability 3: Continuous Improvement & Cost Control

Work with operations and engineering teams to implement optimized manufacturing plan and troubleshoot the process where needed
Support and implement six sigma and lean practices
Develop and maintain annual budget
Control laboratory fixed cost
Oversee maintenance service agreements
Challenge sample schedule to find cost reductions

Accountability 4: Customer Service

Provide analytical leadership and support to operations, engineering, and commercial as needed
Ensure timely resolution of both internal and external customer complaints concerning quality assurance
Provide technical assistance to production units to troubleshoot & optimize process as needed
Resolve product release and non-conformance issues
Coordinate laboratory support of EPO’s & TPO’s for products
Conduct special studies associated with monitoring, auditing, or assessing process problems or enhancements

Accountability 5: Personnel Development

Ensure all lab practices and activities are in accordance with all HR policies
Maintain ASTM memberships
Ensure all training qualifications are maintained and kept up to date for necessary personnel
Conduct succession planning for key lab personnel
Supervise a team of shift team leaders and lab technicians and ensure development of each team member
Mentor, coach, and evaluate the team members to deliver exceptional business performance by providing opportunities for development and enhancement of skills
Conduct periodical performance reviews, workload prioritization and team meetings to maintain continuous delivery while enhancing team productivity

Skills And Knowledge Required

Level of education & Experience in general

Bachelor’s degree in a science-related discipline required, preferably Chemistry
Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in laboratory in a continuously operating manufacturing environment
Previous leadership experience leading and supervising both technical professionals and operations personnel in a manufacturing environment preferred

Skills and Competencies

Experience and knowledge of lab operations, quality assurance and quality control methods and practices
Knowledge of Polymer Material Science and Gas Chromatography
Experience and knowledge of OSHA 1910.119
Experience and knowledge of ISO 9001 and ASTM
Some financial acumen
Familiarity with process and personnel safety systems
Strongly developed interpersonal, leadership and communication skills
Proven ability to lead diverse groups of people successfully
Possesses a track record of accomplishment in leading roles by driving accountability
Strong process knowledge and ability to learn and stay abreast of industry changes
Strong demonstrated ability to manage, progress and deliver multiple and competing priorities
Ability to positively influence others/promote philosophy
Defines personal success in terms of the whole team

Behavioural Skills

PERFORMANCE BIAS - Adapts / modifies plans in response to changing circumstances. Acts quickly and decisively in a crisis. Sets and achieves challenging goals for self and others. Champions and builds consensus for goals that need to be accomplished. Consistently able to meet tight deadlines. Persists in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks.

BUSINESS AWARENESS - Understands internal/external costs and treats Ineos money like their own in making decisions. Building an understanding of Ineos key objectives and measurements of performance. Has basic awareness in financial, commercial, planning and control activities. Takes a strategic view of expenditure and controls cost-effective at cost center level. Understands impact of decisions and or project outcomes on strategies, operations and budgets.

LEADING PEOPLE - Understands own and others’ roles and recognizes the importance of working to objectives and performance standards. Knows who to talk to/work with to progress work in assigned areas. Sets clear performance standards for direct reports, including helping them write challenging basic and stretch performance objectives. Provides technical coaching / professional guidance, and assists in the development of others. Uses complex strategies, such as indirect influence to build consensus and support. Is frequently sought out by others in R&T and the business to provide guidance in decision-making. Delegates to aid development; gives full authority and responsibility to competent people, including the opportunity to make and learn from mistakes.

PARTNERSHIP AND TEAMWORK - Willing to share information and ideas. Recognizes the need for flexibility in the team environment. Work efficiently with others within own team/project. Anticipates the interests and concerns of individuals and groups. Builds common ideas and viewpoints in conflict situations. Projects a positive and professional image of INEOS in work with external customers.

WISE DECISIONS - Systematically breaks down a complex problem or process into its component parts in order to reach a solution. Uses diverse approaches to make decisions in the absence of a definitive framework or where few precedents exist. Identifies the root causes of problems and identifies best approach from a number of options. Finds ways to condense large amounts of information into a useful form. Considers alternative courses of actions weighing the long-term and short-term operations and commercial consequences of each, in order to arrive at a decision based on the overall impact.

INNOVATION - Has the confidence to challenge fixed assumptions. Keen to try new approaches and acquire useful new skills. Creative and perceptive thinker. Makes specific changes in working methods or in the system to do things faster, better, more efficiently.

The successful candidate must be fully vaccinated for COVID.

Our culture is one of honesty and integrity with an emphasis on safety, health and environmental performance.On our team, people are acknowledged for embracing new practices that help create real value for customers.