Experts said that the challenges facing the chemical and sciences industry in 2025 aren’t much different than they’ve been for the past five years.
Matthew Stewart, operations site manager at Olin’s Freeport, Texas, plant, said employee retention has been an ongoing struggle since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The facility is the largest chlor-alkali site across Olin’s footprint in the U.S.
"It’s been a challenge," he said. "We have a higher than normal retention rate. We have to maintain productivity, the programs we have, and there’s the extra cost of bringing people into the organization.
"The bright side is we have managed to onboard some very bright people who have brought a new perspective."
Finding new and innovative ways to grow a future potential workforce can help overcome recruiting obstacles, said Adebayo Adekola, senior director of Freeport site services at BASF.
That innovation can start as early as elementary school, and recruiting a workforce interested in a career in the chemical manufacturing industry ultimately feeds into competition and expansion benchmarks for BASF, Adekola said.
"The more competitive we are as a site here on the Gulf Coast is critical. Being able to invest and expand the site here in Freeport, as opposed to another state, ensures we are as competitive as we can be in those areas and ensures more investment in Freeport," Adekola said.
"Also, workforce development. The world is changing, skill sets are changing. We have to partner with the community, which can start with efforts in K-12 in schools, making sure our training programs are in place to ensure we have the kind of workforce we need for our environment."
Adekola and Stewart were among four panelists during the ABC Texas Gulf Coast/Texas Chemistry Alliance Joint Membership Luncheon held in Freeport, Texas. Panelists examined the issues that companies within the chemical industry face to grow and stay competitive.
Jeff Wolf, plant manager at INEOS in Freeport, has been working in the industry for more than 30 years and said the site employs approximately 800 people, and averages 700 contractors. The modernization of furnaces and crackers has been a challenge for the past 20 years, and market conditions have always played a role, Wolf said.
However, a key concern is the safety of employees and recordable incidents at plants, he said.
"If you look at the chemical industry and what we have gone through, our reputation has gotten so much better in the past 20 years. The work that has gone into improving that record and getting the recordable incidents down has been incredible," Wolf said.
"But how do you get to the point where you have zero injuries? We’re getting there, but we’re not there yet. We also need to communicate that to the general public, because that’s from whom we draw our employees."
Dow, which was established 127 years ago and has existed on the Gulf Coast for 85 years, has focused on manufacturing the most innovative, customer-centric, inclusive and sustainable material in the science industry, said Heather Lyons, Site Manufacturing Director at Dow Seadrift Operations.
The plant is the largest integrated chemical manufacturing facility in the country and produces plastics and synthetic chemicals used in a variety of industries, including construction and healthcare.
"We’ve faced a number of challenges, one of them being water. If we look at the industry today, every single one of our assets is at the end of a river or watershed. And as such, water remains one of highest-priority issues to us today," Lyons said.
Another concern is the regulatory space, where politics and partnership play a key role, she said.
"We are in an environment where politics can be quite polarizing. We need that consistent, practical, science-based application of the regulatory environment and permitting them to achieve solutions in the space of energy and water. Advocacy and partnership can help us move forward," Lyons said.
