All manufacturing facilities strive to earn the coveted OSHA VPP Star certification through their safety performance. One company — Sunoco Chemicals — has excelled at doing so. Both manufacturing facilities comprising the company’s Houston Operations have achieved that safety milestone under the leadership of General Manager Don Empfield.

Empfield attributes the success of the facilities to teamwork and integrity — the same principles that the company was founded on 120 years ago. Sunoco is one of America’s oldest, continuously operated independent companies. It has a proud history of innovation and service — a legacy that continues to shape the business today.

Sunoco Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products, with 900,000 bpd of refining capacity, nearly 4,700 retail sites selling gasoline and convenience items, approximately 5,500 miles of crude oil and refined product owned and operated pipelines, and 38 terminals. Sunoco is a significant manufacturer of petrochemicals with annual sales of approximately 5 billion pounds of largely chemical intermediates used to make fibers, plastics, film and resins. The company also manufactures approximately 2.5 million tons annually of high-quality metallurgical-grade coke for use in the steel industry.

Sunoco Chemicals’ Houston Operations is made up of facilities in Bayport and La Porte, Texas. The two sites consist of four operating units with more than 1 billion pounds per year of polypropylene capacity.

The Bayport plant was built in 1976 and acquired from Equistar in 2003. The site produces large volumes of generic polypropylene for domestic and international customers. Depending on market conditions, a large percentage of that may be shipped to Mexico and other overseas markets.

Sunoco acquired the La Porte facility from Aristech Chemicals in 2001. It was originally built in 1977 and was upgraded with a new production line in 1999. The plant has several production lines capable of manufacturing a wide range of products, including specialty grades of polypropylene used in demanding automotive applications. Products are primarily shipped to customers located throughout the United States.

Leading by example

“With a lot of help from my team, I manage Sunoco Chemicals’ Houston Operations in a safe, reliable and environmentally sound manner,” Empfield said.

And indeed it does take a team to maintain Sunoco Chemicals’ status as a leading manufacturer. The foundation of a good team is strong leadership.

“That entails walking the walk, not just talking the talk,” Empfield explained. “People need to look at you and know that you live and believe everything you espouse as good and right. They need to see your integrity clearly because that’s ultimately all you have.”

Empfield’s passion for the business began in 1978 when he joined Union Carbide as a night shift supervisor for the production of polyethylene film. In 1980, he began a 22-year career with Akzo Nobel/Stauffer Chemicals, where he held several management positions before accepting his first position as a site manager.

In 1997, Empfield was promoted from his position as production manager of the company’s Deer Park, Texas, facility to site manager — a post he held for five years. The facility achieved OSHA VPP Star status while Empfield was site manager. The plant also completed the ISO 14001 environmental certification during that time, becoming the first alkyl site certified in the United States.

In 2002, Empfield accepted the position of site manager for Sunoco Chemicals’ Pasadena, Texas, site.

“I joined Sunoco Chemicals to support its expansion into the petrochemical industry in the Houston area,” he said.

When the Pasadena site was sold to BASF in 2003, Empfield was offered a position to stay with the company as site manager for its La Porte facility.

“I was promoted to the general manager position in 2004 when the Bayport and La Porte sites were combined to improve operational excellence, reduce costs and promote best practices,” Empfield said.

Empfield sets goals that contribute to the success of his facilities and Sunoco Chemicals as a whole. He then goes about engaging employees to assist him and the company in carrying out those goals, thereby giving them a sense of ownership and pride.

“Part of being a leader is setting high standards and establishing goals to shoot for and achieve,” he explained. “Keeping the team motivated toward reaching the goals you set is also part of it. You want them to reach organizational goals because they want to achieve excellence.

“Employees need to see that you’re passionate about them, the work and doing the best possible job together.”

Outstanding performance

The teamwork of Sunoco’s Bayport and La Porte employees has resulted in award-winning operations.

Sunoco Chemicals’ La Porte plant was the first Sunoco facility to apply and be recognized as an OSHA Star site. Additionally, the plant was the first chemicals site to receive the Sunoco Inc.’s prestigious Chairman’s Award in 2005 for outstanding performance in the areas of health, environment and safety.

The Bayport plant was an OSHA VPP Star site prior to being acquired by Sunoco. Once Sunoco took over the operation, Empfield led the effort to have the facility re-certified.

Both the La Porte and Bayport sites achieved the Texas Chemical Council’s “Caring for Texas” acknowledgement for 2005 and 2006.

Empfield attributes the success to a safety-conscious culture, which includes:
• All voluntary emergency response program. The team receives continuous specialized training and all the resources they need to do the job well.
• Voluntary VPP safety committee. This group leads the continuous improvement efforts by conducting periodic inspections to uncover areas that can be improved upon. An annual budget of $200,000 is used on small capital projects to improve safety.
• “Life critical” procedures. This is a standardized set of formal safety practices across both plants.

Empfield said ensuring a safe working culture that encompasses everyone is the biggest challenge any facility faces, but that there is nothing more important.

“It’s what we expect 100 percent of the time,” he said. “It’s our license to operate.”

Empfield creates that culture by communicating what is important and setting the expectation, then backing up the words with actions by giving the employees the support they need to do their jobs safely.

“Whether that support is improved training, better equipment or new processes, you have to give it to them so they know that you’re serious,” he said. “Only then will people really take to heart what you’re trying to do. Your goals become their goals.”

Finally, Empfield says the team needs to recognize that creating the culture is not a one-time exercise.

“You need to communicate the message continuously and reinforce it with action constantly,” he said. “It takes persistence.”

The best in everything

Sunoco Chemicals’ Houston Operations puts that same passion and effective teamwork into all its ventures.

The facilities have been and are currently actively involved in a number of community service efforts, including the La Porte Independent School District, Pasadena Independent School District, Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, supporting U.S. troops overseas, and the Pasadena Livestock Show, Rodeo and Fair.

Additionally, the team is working together to remain competitive into the future.

“Faced with a looming shortage of track for storing railcars in the Houston area, as well as higher prices for leasing space, we took a closer look at our options, and we are building our own rail yard on unused land inside La Porte’s fence,” Empfield said.

Whatever they set out to do, they know that it can be accomplished together, and success is well within reach.

“Sunoco wants to be a leader in safety and environmental performance, operational reliability and cost competitiveness,” Empfield said. “We’re proud of our performance, but continuous improvement is the foundation of all that we do. Our performance today is the baseline for tomorrow’s targets. At Sunoco, that’s the way it’s always been, and that’s the way it always will be.

“We want to be the best in everything we do.”