When Greg Gray, site manager of LyondellBasell's Lake Charles Polymers Plant, accepted his newest leadership role at the Westlake, Louisiana, site in January 2019, he knew he was responsible for carrying on both the company's and the plant's tradition of being trailblazers and forward-looking leaders of industry.
Constructed in 1959, the Lake Charles Polymers Plant was one of the first petrochemical plants to sprout up in southwestern Louisiana, paving the way for future industrial and economic growth in the area.
The Lake Charles area site was also the first in the Americas to use LyondellBasell's Spheripol process for creating polypropylene. A proprietary technology of LyondellBasell, the company has licensed the Spheripol technology to more than 100 different production lines around the globe, thanks to the process' superior economics, proven track record, and ability to produce a broad and diverse product slate.
Today, the site operates three polymer production lines, producing polypropylene and catalloy resins.
A native of San Antonio, Gray holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University, and has spent much of his career in his home state of Texas. While working toward his undergraduate degree, his first job was as a co-op engineer for Eastman Chemical Co. in Longview, Texas, in 1994. After receiving his degree and completing three work terms at Eastman, Gray was then hired full time at the company. He spent six years at Eastman before joining LyondellBasell in 2001. Gray earned increasing leadership roles at LyondellBasell, holding the positions of laboratory manager in Victoria, Texas; technical and operations manager in Matagorda, Texas; and site manager in Alvin, Texas, before his move across the Texas-Louisiana border.
Since then, the Texas native has thrived in Lake Charles. "I am thoroughly enjoying the Louisiana hospitality, great food and fun atmosphere," Gray said. "The people here make this a fantastic place to be, and the teamwork at our site is amazing."
As site manager, Gray is first and foremost responsible for the safety of every employee and contractor on his site. In order to be effective at this critical responsibility, he strives to build connections with a wide variety of people.
"Building strong relationships with employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, peers and community leaders helps establish trust," Gray said. "Trust is the foundation of successful leadership. In order to lead, people must trust that you have their safety, well-being and livelihood in mind when making decisions that affect them." Only when a leader establishes trust, Gray explained, can the leader share his or her vision for future success and really begin to make a difference.
By all measures, Gray has been successful at creating and nurturing that trust at his site. As a member of the LyondellBasell family of companies, Gray knows his site has some lofty expectations to live up to.
This year alone, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies," and the American Chemistry Council bestowed its highest distinction to LyondellBasell: the Responsible Care® Company of the Year award, in recognition of innovative practices and leadership in the areas of environmental, health, safety and security.
In 2019, the Lake Charles plant was also awarded the AFPM Elite Silver Safety Award, a recognition the site has received multiple times. The site received AFPM's highest honor in 2016, the Distinguished Safety Award. The Louisiana Chemical Association awarded the plant with its "Best in Louisiana" SAFE Award in 2019 as well.
GoalZERO
Gray attributes these numerous distinctions to the core value and belief in GoalZERO, which is LyondellBasell's commitment to achieve zero injuries, zero incidents, zero noncompliance issues and zero mistakes. While a bird's-eye view of this expectation may appear lofty, the overall philosophy is guided by the implementation of the GoalZERO principles that, when applied, make the ambition realistic, rather than idealistic.
The GoalZERO principles are:
- All incidents are preventable.
- Stop work if you believe a situation is unsafe.
- Get help if a situation is not understood.
- Intervene and take action -- if you see something, say something.
- "Check signals," and recheck when conditions change.
- Follow all procedures and take the time needed to do the job safely.
- Report all incidents immediately so others can learn.
These principles guide not only workers in the field, but also those in the boardroom and on-site contractors.
"We must maintain a disciplined approach with attention to detail in all aspects of our work," Gray said. "Buy-in to the principles at every level of the organization demonstrates that every employee can trust the co-workers beside them, beneath them, above them and below them, and they can trust that their leaders have their safety, well-being and livelihood in mind during decision-making processes."
Supporting local initiatives
Another key for leading the Lake Charles plant, Gray said, is being a trusted member of the community.
"At LyondellBasell, we are committed to being a responsible, good neighbor in the communities where we operate," he said.
Gray spoke with pride of his plant's sponsorship of local initiatives in pursuit of Advancing Good, the company's global corporate citizenship program. He cited the plant's volunteer and financial support of the Sulphur Police Department, Children's Miracle Network, Lake Charles Special Olympics and United Way of Southwest Louisiana, to name a few, as well as the plant's relationship with T.S. Cooley Elementary School through the Partner in Education initiative. LyondellBasell staff continuously volunteer their time and resources to promote STEM education.
Operation Clean Sweep®
On the global scale, one initiative Gray emphasized was LyondellBasell's commitment to Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS), which focuses on being a more responsible steward of the environment.
"Plastic plays a significant role in the transition to a sustainable and resource-efficient future," he said.
One way Gray carries out that commitment to OCS is by seeking to reduce the failure to contain flake, powder and pellet debris from the resin-production process. While the loss of product during production and routine operations may have been historically viewed as a cost of doing business, Gray and LyondellBasell are leading the charge to change that view by internally reviewing "opportunities to improve housekeeping; flake, powder and pellet containment; and resin-handling equipment."
Gray's and LyondellBasell's leadership in initiatives like OCS improves more than just the facility's environmental impact; it also improves business performance by increasing efficiency. The benefit is circular: Better environmental performance improves the plant's bottom line.
Gray noted that he and the company are also actively engaged in "supporting several legislative bills that would facilitate the much-needed modernization of the country's recycling infrastructure, along with providing improved consumer education on how to recycle.
"I believe the future of our industry will center around sustainability," he explained. "Achieving sustainable consumption and production patterns requires a focus on circularity. And that vision for success, sustainability and circularity at the local and global levels all begins with trust."
