When Life Is As Fast As Molasses...

To my colleagues and acquaintances I've connected with on this platform, some for over a decade now, I've owed you an update on what I've been up to lately, as I've owed myself some time for reflection. The past six months have been a wild but exciting roller-coaster of a time period, and everyone's experiences while in quarantine lately gave it even more hairpin turns and loop-de-loops than beforehand.

Without dwelling too long on the past, my time at Emerson (which had acquired ProSys, Inc.) had been well spent, with many memories on the road to various customer sites in Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois as I built up my dynamic alarm management expertise and familiarized myself with various distributed control systems and processes with the help of knowledgeable and friendly coworkers over the years. Though I could appreciate what the clients handled while working at these sites, I don't think I could have 100%-understood what they dealt with on a day-to-day basis without living it myself.

So, I was elated to get an offer from Dexco Polymers LP, a Taiwanese Synthetic Rubber Corp. Company, to become their Process Controls Engineer back in December and start the job at the beginning of this year. When I interviewed there back in November, it helped to see some familiarity with the Emerson conventions and set-up for the IDv3 graphics and to have had previous exposure with Honeywell Experion and ACM, and it did not hurt that two of the guys I interviewed with remembered me from an AgileOps demonstration I had given them a few years prior!

It has helped me for the most part hit the ground running here, so I'm once again grateful for the former colleagues and clients that provided me references and LinkedIn recommendations to get me through the door. I'm also indebted for the support that my Dexco colleagues have provided in teaching me the nuances to the new role and work culture and for the encouragement management has offered me to set my career sights high.

After more than 3 months now on the job, I still have plenty of room to develop, to master all parts of the process(es), and most importantly, to make full sense of all the DCS code (hence the article image, haha), but here are some highlights of my time on the job so far:

• While learning about a portion of the SBS and SIS production trains, a coworker described a problem where product was traveling through the pipes "as fast as molasses". Knowing that molasses is a viscous fluid, I never thought of it as fast beforehand, but in the context of producing solid material, the context and problematic characterization make sense, and it's a reminder to myself to still keep an eye on the big picture of what's going on at the facility.
• While trying to make sense of another portion of the plant for an upcoming project, I humored myself in associating some of the equipment's mechanics to how a cook would batter chicken cutlets with flour. Whatever helps and can be easily understood by anyone, right?
• My manager quickly enrolled me in a leadership seminar series arranged by an outside consultant that focused on improving communication and trust. For part of the seminar, it was eye-opening to hear how each fellow participant interprets words like "soon", "ASAP", "some", and "most", as I've since made a valued effort to specifically quantify amounts and dates/times in my personal communication.
• Dexco Polymers ran on MOD5 systems while they were still a Dow / ExxonMobil joint venture. I never saw one in operation myself, but given the longevity and success Honeywell has had with Honeywell TDC, based on the input I've heard from the operators and my initial controls engineering mentor at Dexco who recently retired, I wonder how different the automation world would have been if Dow had decided to stay in the DCS space and promote MOD systems beyond Dow's operating sites.
• During this COVID-19 pandemic, I've been fortunate to remain employed and even more grateful that in the event of a troubleshooting need, I can access a Honeywell Remote Engineering Station Server from home to remain socially-distant for the operators' protection. It's a brilliant form of technology, one that I wouldn't be surprised if other DCS vendors have their own versions of, and I wouldn't be surprised if expanded investments in such platforms will increase in the near-future.

If you've read this far, then I hope I gave you a fair update, and I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, remain enjoyably safe and healthy out there!