Stacy Putman was recently recognized with a Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Award. The STEP Ahead initiative was launched to examine and promote the role of women in the manufacturing industry through recognition, research and leadership in attracting, advancing and retaining strong female talent. For Putman, the honor presents a great opportunity.
“With only about a quarter of the workforce in manufacturing being women, getting the message spread more broadly about the great jobs, excellent benefits and worldwide opportunities should open up the workforce opportunities for companies and candidates,” she said. “I’m very excited to work with the Manufacturing Institute in this program to mentor and invite women to consider manufacturing in their career choices.
“Parents and grandparents need to hear this news, as well as school counselors, return-to-work coaches and others. I’d like to focus on women returning to work from the military or family-care situations, as well as young women presently in school looking to their futures.”
As site manager of INEOS OLEFINS & POLYMERS USA’s Carson, California, facility, Putman embodies the excellence and leadership the STEP Ahead Awards honor.
“Leading teams and problem solving are deep in my past experiences and are what I relish,” said Putman. “My career has enabled me to expand my technical and interpersonal skills such that taking on completely new challenges is what I’ve learned to seek out.
“My past assignments have been in commercial, operations, functional and plant level as well as corporate roles. I’ve sought diversity in assignment, span of control and scope to keep the opportunities from becoming routine.”
Putman’s INEOS roots began in Texas and have led her to the helm of the Carson site. As such, she guides the team by clearly communicating expectations.
“Receiving and clearly setting expectations are the two most important parts of my role as site manager,” she explained. “The customers who use our products and the workforce that manufactures them are who I support in my role.
“In addition to the HSE aspects in support of employees and our community, much of my time and energy is spent with our workforce and our commercial team to ensure that processes, systems and equipment are meeting needs. This requires proper expectation setting, training with clear follow up and frequent communication.
“Owen Chadwick, in his introduction to ‘The Conferences’ of John Cassian, states, ‘Truth is not won in a moment.’ Our maintenance manager, Tony Leadbeater, states it locally as, ‘Communicate little and often to reinforce expectations.’ This proves so true in all aspects of life. A leader with commitment must demonstrate consistency, which builds trust in the team.”
Together, with its foundation of trust, the team meets its challenges and welcomes new opportunities.
“As the only petrochemical plant west of the Rockies, we are challenged to find qualified employees, experienced contractors and even equipment and parts locally. This requires a good program of people and process development to sustain the operation for future generations of employees. Developing the workforce to be ready for new opportunities while sustaining good safety and production performance are my goals.
“Workforce development is a strong focus for INEOS, and we are working with the local school districts, community colleges and industry associations to raise awareness about the rewarding careers available in our industry — from sales, administration, operating, maintenance and lab technicians to engineers, finance and logistics roles — not to mention the construction opportunities with new projects in the downstream sectors of the chemicals business. Despite a recent slowdown in the upstream oil and gas sectors, the anticipated retirements and continued but paced growth in our industry will continue to provide opportunities.”
INEOS on the move
INEOS’ Carson site is located 25 miles south of Los Angeles. It began producing polypropylene in 1999 and has the distinction of being the largest single commodity exporter on the West Coast and the second largest plastics exporter in the U.S. The Carson polypropylene site can produce more than 500 million pounds of products per year.
The facility has the logistical advantage of dispatching products to customers directly from the facility via several delivery modes: railcar, bulk truck and packages. Less than 10 miles from the Port of Long Beach, the facility has generated high-volume export business for INEOS.
In 2015, INEOS reached a unique milestone, launching the first three of its fleet of state-of-the-art ships built to transport tons of liquefied ethane from shale gas fields in America to Europe.
“That was the first of its kind,” said Putman. “INEOS seeks out opportunities to meet market demand and acts quickly.
“Here at the site in California, we did the same in 2015. Our historical market focus has been access to Asia. In Q2 2015, our business team saw the indications of change and deftly went to the American market with new and bold proposals that have now secured our site for years to come. This strategy is well balanced with our Texas assets and will provide security of supply to our customers as well.
“We hope to continue satisfying our domestic customers with high-quality polymer and continue earning their business. Our Project Gemini, under construction at the INEOS O&P La Porte facility, will add approximately 1 billion pounds of new-generation bimodal high-density polyethylene to the market. This is yet another example of INEOS moving to meet market demand and creating opportunity in the workplace.”
Adding value
As Putman leads INEOS’ Carson site into the future, she draws from past learning initiatives. In 2007, INEOS embarked on a Six Sigma Improvement program. The first team of Black Belts included two women: Putman and Gerri Hazel. The experience has proven very valuable.
“Initiating this program was a humble move,” explained Putman. “It showed that our company leadership realized we needed some new tools and ideas for problem solving, as the same old methods weren’t getting us to the standard of performance that we desired. The training and projects required solving the old problems a new way.
“Following up with Lean certification honed my focus on value-adding effort. Mentorship under these approaches also enabled me to identify how to take my strengths and weaknesses and better use them to add value to INEOS.”
Putman also uses that training in her mentoring relationship with her team.
“Knowing your strengths and weaknesses contributes to having a positive and productive career,” she said. “To be valued in your role, your strengths need to be a benefit, not a threat, and your weaknesses should create opportunities for others to contribute.
“Being able to anticipate and flex with the needs of my team in order to meet a deadline or other expectation is very important. I’ve often had to step in and take on additional activity and have occasionally needed others to do the same for me in order for our team to meet a goal. Some of my most meaningful contributions were when I was doing the most necessary but unglamorous tasks to ensure our team had a good outcome.
“People typically perform best when they are challenged with work that they respect and that strengthens their skills. I’ve always tried to understand what will motivate my teams, remove obstacles for them, set expectations that align with their motivators, and then cheer them on with coaching and resources.”
INEOS OLEFINS & POLYMERS USA
Carson Plant
2384 East 223rd Street
Long Beach, CA 90810
www.ineos.com
Employees: 36 employees and 25 contractors
Product: Polypropylene
