Next time you order onion rings at Burger King® or pick up a bag of Ore Ida® frozen onion rings, be sure to take a moment to thank Guy Tenini, site manager of DuPont’s Pontchartrain Works facility.

As a 16-year-old student growing up in Chicago, Tenini was selected to work part-time drafting prototypes of various machinery, which included a machine that could take a raw onion and turn it into a finished onion ring. Years later, the small company eventually became part of the Ore Ida organization, and Tenini’s prototypes were put to use.

“When I went to that company, I was the whole drafting department,” Tenini said, “and it was one of the best growth experiences I have ever had.”

Tenini has come a long way from his first part-time job. After changing his mind about medical school — a decision that was made after looking at the costs and the number of years it would take to finish — Tenini decided to follow the path of his older brother and major in chemical engineering.

Upon graduating from the University of Illinois in 1976, Tenini relocated to work at DuPont’s Pontchartrain Works facility, which is located just outside New Orleans in La Place, La. During his stay in Louisiana, he got married and his first two of three sons were born. (Tenini’s third son was born while he was working in Texas.)

Tenini stayed there until 1983, then traveled across the country, serving in various roles throughout the DuPont organization. In 1994, he had the opportunity to return to the Pontchartrain Works facility and jumped at the chance, citing a love for the Gulf Coast and Louisiana as the main reason.

Today, Tenini serves as the facility’s site manager, overseeing the DuPont Chemical Specialty Enterprise Operations (DCSE) and serving as landlord to the DuPont Performance Elastomers Co. (DPE), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont.

DuPont’s Pontchartrain Works facility
DPE is a global producer of neoprene, and the DCSE operation produces an intermediate — known as para-phenylene diamine — that is used in the manufacture of Kevlar®, which is critical to security and military operations.

Recently, the DuPont Performance Elastomers facility underwent a $50 million addition to improve the capability of the site’s neoprene operation as the company consolidates global production at the Pontchartrain Works site.
    The investment also includes new technology and equipment so that the plant will be able to make a broader range of neoprene products. The addition will also allow the facility to consolidate DuPont’s neoprene operations, which includes a facility in Louisville, Ky., in Louisiana.
    According to Tenini, that will mean that DPE will be reducing 50 percent of its emissions from total neoprene operations with the new expansion. Additionally, using state-of-the-art technology, DuPont will work to reduce the Pontchartrain Works facility’s emissions by 10 percent.

A dedication to safety, environment
Working at the Pontchartrain facility, Tenini’s days are filled with a wide range of responsibilities. However, Tenini feels that his most important responsibility is making sure that DuPont employees are safe and that they are taking care of the environment.

“The top priority for me is to provide a safe workplace for our employees and the community and to protect the environment,” Tenini said. “You want to have a successful business and provide good jobs for people, but at the end of the day, the top priority is the safety of everyone who works here, the safety of those who live around us and the impact the facility has on the environment.”

According to Tenini, the DuPont Pontchartrain DCSE operation has an outstanding safety record and hasn’t had an event-related injury at the site for five years.

In order to achieve safe work practices, Tenini said it is critical to get everyone to work as a team toward a common, focused goal. To do that, Tenini designates very frequent milestones.

“We have a milestone almost every month, and we recognize those,” he said. “Some recognition is as simple as a company lunch to celebrate and talk about safety. In other cases, we have recognition rewards.”

While Tenini values safe work practices, he also feels passionately about the Kevlar intermediate that is made at his facility and the importance it has on those who risk their lives to protect others.

“The work that we have done as a company has not only saved the lives for people in the facility, but the operation of making Kevlar has saved many lives, and that makes me feel really good,” he said. “There aren’t many jobs out there where you have the opportunity to do that.”

In fact, Tenini said, there are more than 3,000 law enforcement officers worldwide who are members of the Kevlar Survivor’s Club, an organization dedicated to recognizing the sacrifices made by our public servants and sharing information that can improve our safety.

Along with a dedication to safety, Tenini, a self-proclaimed environmentalist, also places a heavy importance on environmental stewardship and is proud of the programs his facility has in place, including a 700-acre tract of land that is used as a registered wildlife habitat that houses a variety of environments including bottomland hardwoods, open fields, woodlands, tidal pounds, butterfly gardens and a pecan orchard.

“We have employees involved in that, which I think is wonderful,” Tenini said. “You wouldn’t believe how important our facility is to migrating birds. We actually have bald eagles that live on our facility.”

Recently, the facility was recognized for its environmental efforts and was honored by the Wildlife Habitat Council, a Washington, D.C.-area organization of conservation and corporate groups that work together to promote environmental stewardship.

“We are proud of the work our people have done at the Pontchartrain plant,” Tenini said. “This award shows our commitment to environmental stewardship and serving the community where our people work and live.”

This is not the first time the plant and its employees have received awards related to their commitment to the environment. The facility and its workers have also received the 2002 Clean Air Award for Innovation and the 2002 Louisiana Governor’s Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pollution Prevention.

To maintain award-winning environmental performance, the first thing Tenini does is make sure they are always operating in compliance and that all the systems are in place for what they are doing.

“We spend a lot of our time automating and making sure we do things right,” he said. “We are also constantly working on improvement projects that are not only good for the environment, but also good for the business.”

A common theme in industry
Throughout industry, there has been a common theme — the need for qualified workers — and the Pontchartrain facility is no exception.

“Finding the people who are available and who have the right talents to fill our jobs has been one of our biggest challenges in the past several years,” Tenini said.

To help deal with the challenge, Tenini has worked with the Louisiana Chemical Association’s (LCA) work force development team. One of the things the team accomplished was to develop a state advisory board — which Tenini served on — in Louisiana that sets and supports the curriculum for process technology (PTEC) degrees.

“This LCA effort has helped increase enrollment several hundred percent,” Tenini said. “There have been a lot of people who have put significant effort into raising enrollment. As a result of those efforts, more and more people are getting a good education, graduating and moving into the work force. This has created a wonderful opportunity for young people, and it has filled very valuable positions in our plants.”

Tenini also knows the value education plays in delivering the qualified work force of tomorrow. (Tenini holds a special place in his heart for educators since his wife is a retired science teacher.) To help get students excited about working, employees at the Pontchartrain Works facility are involved in the “school-to-career” work program. Recently, the facility sponsored an event in hopes of getting students in the parish to finish school and think about what they want to do after they graduate.

“In my mind, the work we are doing on the ‘school-to-career’ program is so important because it allows people to help themselves,” Tenini said. “If you get an education, you can find a job.”

Louisiana Chemical Association
Actively involved with the LCA for many years, Tenini was recently elected chairman of the association, where he will help provide direction and guidance to the LCA staff. According to Tenini, LCA shares and provides mutual benefits to everybody involved — the state and the companies that are members.

One thing Tenini hopes to accomplish in his new role is to continue to expand the organization’s work to improve safety and environmental performance at all LCA facilities.

“To do that,” Tenini said, “LCA’s members must collaborate with one another so that we can all be better at safety and do the right things for the environment.”

Tenini is also looking forward to working with Louisiana’s new government, which went into effect earlier this year.

“With a new governor coming in and a large turnover in the state House and Senate, I truly believe our state has the best opportunity to make the kind of lasting improvements that can make us the kind of state where people and businesses want to come,” Tenini said. “With the LCA, we are trying to be a positive part of that change and be helpful and supportive.”

DuPont’s Pontchartrain Works
586 Highway 44
La Place, LA
Products: Neoprene, Kevlar intermediate
Employees: 369 DuPont employees, 147 resident contractors
Acres: 1,137