Meet our Polymer expert, Jeremy Cross. With a 30-year career working in polymer technology support and production management, Jeremy brings extensive industry experience to the Shell Polymers team.
Production Unit Manager
With the opening of its new polyethylene plant in Monaca, USA, Shell Polymers has been hiring a team of industry experts, aka Polymer Pioneers and Polymer Pros, who have a proven track record in polyethylene. Production Unit Manager Jeremy Cross shares about his role at Shell Polymers and reveals top-four tips for production excellence.
While the plant is still under construction, the bulk of his job is getting ready for start-up, which includes building a team with the necessary experience and talent, and getting the culture right. Jeremy shares, “Right now, we’re taking new team members through a comprehensive training program so that they can operate the units safely and reliably. I’m lucky to have a very talented team with a rich diversity of experience. It makes life easy! My focus is on supporting and empowering the team to deliver what we need to be ready for start-up and encouraging them to come up with ideas and solutions to improve our ways of working.”
“I’m lucky to have a very talented team with a rich diversity of experience. It makes life easy! My focus is on supporting and empowering the team to deliver what we need to be ready for start-up and encouraging them to come up with ideas and solutions to improve our ways of working.”
Jeremy Cross
Meet the Shell Polymers’ Team of Polymer Experts
He further explains, “I also spend a lot of time collaborating with the commercial and technical teams to establish operating plans and robust ways of working. This means that if a problem creeps up, we can respond in a way that does not affect our customers.
We’re also striving to build a connection between our operators and customers. I firmly believe the greater the appreciation the team has of quality’s impact on our customers, the more we can fine-tune our systems and processes to meet their needs better.”
“I firmly believe the greater the appreciation the team has of quality’s impact on our customers, the more we can fine-tune our systems and processes to meet their needs better.”
Building a new grassroots facility has given us many advantages. For example, we’ve been able to incorporate state-of-the art techniques to monitor and control our units, to work to the highest safety standards and to maximize product quality.
We’ve also been installing a range of state-of-the-art design features, including finished product homogenization, which ensures greater product consistency, and leading-edge product dedusting systems.
An advanced operator training simulator is enabling us to train and test operators against planned and unplanned scenarios so that they are well practiced before they even need to touch a real valve or piece of equipment in the field.
According to Jeremy, there are a few key factors that sets Shell Polymers apart from other suppliers, including operational excellence and our determination to offer a differentiated customer experience, which means we are investing in new techniques throughout the business.
He elaborates, “Another important point, which I think will really add value for customers, is that our technical services team is co-located with the manufacturing site here in Monaca. And, because the site is so close to most of the North American polyethylene market, it gives us a real opportunity to respond more quickly and effectively than customers might expect.”
Plastics processing guru. Patents holder. Passionate about collaborating with customers, meet Polymer Pioneer, Dan Falla.
