Bart Standefer's journey to facility site leader for Braskem's Seadrift, Texas, operation reads like a roadmap of some of Texas' most elite oil, gas and petrochemical firms.
After earning a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University in 2006, Standefer's first job out of college was with Fluor Corp. in Sugar Land, Texas, working in both the control system and process engineering departments on the FEED for major projects.
The 2009 economic downturn took him to Dow Chemical at a polypropylene (PP) unit in Seadrift. Shortly thereafter, Dow divested the PP assets to Braskem. He then joined Oxy in Ingleside, Texas, where he spent seven years in various engineering and production roles in the chloro-alkali unit and participated in the construction, commissioning, start-up and operation of a grassroots ethylene unit.
Then, in July 2018, even though he wasn't looking for a new opportunity, he returned to Braskem's Seadrift PP facility -- the same unit he left in 2011.
As facility site leader, Standefer is responsible for driving the culture at the facility and ensuring the safe, reliable and efficient operations of the plant in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.
This position requires Standefer to understand the capability of the people and plant, and to drive accountability for himself and the team.
"As the smallest plant within Braskem America, it is important to understand how Seadrift fits into the overall portfolio," Standefer said. "Because of the pandemic, there have been many unforeseen changes in the market, and we have been able to adapt our product portfolio through our diversification and ability to produce such a variety of PP resins."
Founded in 2002, Braskem is the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and a leading global producer of biopolymers. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Braskem is also the largest producer of PP in the U.S. with six production sites located in Texas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh.
Standefer noted that the Seadrift unit was the first Unipol PP facility ever constructed.
"The PP unit started as a joint venture between Union Carbide and Shell Chemical," he said. "It was a low-capital, commercial-scale demonstration unit, with the concept to only operate the plant for a few years to prove the technology."
Thanks to the success in the first few years, the unit was debottlenecked and has gone through multiple expansions, operating as a full-scale commercial unit since 1985.
"Most of the original equipment was either bought through surplus or repurposed from other facilities between Union Carbide Corp. and Shell, including the original distributed control system. Even the reactor was designed as a high-pressure reactor that was modified for PP," Standefer said.
Acquired by Braskem in 2011, the unit produces PP for the automotive, consumer, medical and hygiene, and additive manufacturing markets, among others.
"The Seadrift site not only has one of the most diverse product portfolios of any plant, but we also have one of the most diverse teams," Standefer said. "As leaders, we must step up and lead difficult discussions to build the relationships at the site. We must continue to grow our focus around human reliability, sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)."
Overcoming challenges
When Standefer returned to the plant in 2018, the site was still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Most of the team members were displaced due to water damage and mold in their homes and offices. Since then, new offices have been built and labs renovated. The maintenance building has also been expanded, and a self-supporting maintenance and reliability organization was developed.
"During this time, we have tackled the challenge of hiring and developing people to increase our headcount for our maintenance organization," Standefer said. "We've also tackled the transition of many of our team members with 30-plus years of experience to retirement. Ensuring we transfer knowledge effectively and continue stable operations has been a meaningful challenge given the demographics of our industry and the current labor market."
Despite this challenge to its workforce, in November 2021, the Seadrift plant set a new record for safety: eight years without a recordable injury or illness.
"Over the past few years, we have set records in health, environment and safety (HES), quality and production for the site," he said proudly. "We have an excellent human culture at the plant, with the core focused on human reliability. We heavily support our front-line supervision with field presence during critical activities, while driving improvements in our management systems to be better prepared and planned for work execution."
Recognizing how important it is for a plant to align itself and become involved with the welfare of its community, Standefer said Braskem aligns its various sponsorships with its own company's standards and culture. This proactive approach focuses on supporting STEM studies, DEI and HES, the pursuit of a circular economy and enhanced sustainability.
"This past year, we supported the San Antonio Bay Partnership (SABP) in various cleanups of local marinas, boat ramps and park areas," Standefer said. "We look forward to continuing to build the relationship with SABP and support other local organizations."
Sustainability and responsibility
While the Braskem Seadrift facility is not planning any expansions or upgrades in the immediate future, Standefer said the plant has undertaken a number of "substantial projects" focusing on digitization and human reliability in an effort to reduce manual tasks. The plant is also focusing on its sustainability efforts, including leaving "zero pellets on the ground" in the unit.
"One project is a vacuum collection system to de-heel railcars returned from clients and capture that material in a way to maximize our recycling efforts and resale value," he said.
In order to best stay informed of changes and emerging technology in the industry, Standefer relies on internal communications and newsletters from the company's strategic marketing team.
"I also read a variety of trade publications such as BIC Magazine and IHS Markit," he said.
Looking to the future, Standefer said Braskem is committed to developing innovative solutions that promote the circular economy and sustainable development.
"We continue to take steps to enhance the technology for the chemical recycling of post-consumer plastics," he said. "All of these initiatives are aligned with Braskem's feedstock diversification strategy and its macro goals of expanding the circular economy concept in the plastic chain and becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2050."
One of the company's commitments is to expand its "I'm Green" portfolio to include 1 million tons of thermoplastic resins and chemical products made from recycled content by 2030. More details about Braskem's Global Sustainability Strategy can be found at www.braskem.com/usa/sustainabledevelopmentstrategy.
Despite the demands of parenting his three young children, ages 7 years to only 11 months old, Standefer still finds time to volunteer at local service organizations' events. He recognizes the influence his company can have in shaping the future not only for his own family, but also for the benefit of his community and the greater global family.
"We must be bold to move hard and fast and be able to push enhancements in environmental and social sustainability," he said. "And we have the perfect team to do that."
For more information, visit www.braskem.com/usa.
