(Real)ationships Are At the Core of Shell Polymers’ New Polyethylene Plant

The brand-new, state-of-the-art facility will benefit customers well beyond the approximately 3.3 billion pounds of polyethylene it will produce every year. Here are four ways that our new plant will also help build people-first relationships that we call (Real)ationships with the polyethylene market and our home community.

1. A Polyethylene Plant Located For Your Convenience

(Real)ationships start with being there for you, so we put down our roots nearby. Located northwest of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River, our polyethylene plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania is within 700 miles of 70%of the current North American market, so resin is right where manufacturers need it.

The new site is creating shorter supply chains, meaning customers who work with Shell Polymers will also have access to a more varied, reliable polymer supply.

In addition to helping converters get the resin they need, this project created thousands of construction jobs and 600 permanent positions. Plus, an IHS Markit study found that the facility would inject billions into the economy over its lifetime.¹

2. ‘Goal Zero’ Keeps People Safely Working for You

It’s easier for our workers to build (Real)ationships with you if they feel safe and secure. So at Shell, we adhere to a Goal Zero Ambition and our goal is to achieve zero safety incidents. We believe that all employees have the right to a safe workplace, environment, and community. That’s why we designed our plant with the comfort and safety of our employees and community in mind.

Throughout each stage of construction, experts assessed possible safety concerns to eliminate or reduce potential risks where possible and built in measures to limit impacts. For example, during the design phase for the Ethylene Cracker Unit, 3D models were built with equipment accessibility in mind. Transmitters, sample points, manways, and all other pieces of operating equipment were assessed for appropriate access.

This attention to detail has been applied to every part of the polyethylene plant because the safety of our team and community is always a critical requirement when designing and modifying key pieces of the facility, so our workers can safely focus on helping you achieve your business goals.

Best Practices for Top-Tier Industrial Polymers Suppliers

3. Accelerated Logistics to Keep Your Supply Moving

Trust is central to a (Real)ationship. To that end, our advanced automation processes feature smart, built-in rail and truck shipment monitoring to minimize transportation delays while maximizing output and efficiency.

This automated inventory tracking will enable rapid logistic decisions, provide proactive notifications to minimize delays and deliver greater supply chain transparency to help you optimize your operations.

In addition to logistics technology, our strategic location in Pennsylvania creates an inherently shorter supply chain that enables us to offer truck delivery to our customers. Our large-capacity truck silos will ensure product flexibility and accelerated road deliveries.

The facility’s proximity to supply and customer markets will further reduce economic costs, giving our regional customers more versatility, a seamless supply chain, and better dependability. Simply put, we’re building (Real)ationships you can count on.

Get the eBook to See the New Standard for Supply Chain Reliability

4. Leaving Our World Better Than We Found It

We want to build (Real)ationships not just with customers, but with our home community as well. Before Shell purchased its plot of land along the Ohio River, the property housed a defunct zinc smelter with contaminated soil.

To prevent further soil pollution and appropriately contain decades of environmental damage from former industrial uses, we invested millions of dollars to restore the site under Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling Program. Plus, the foundation of the polyethylene plant was built to lower our environmental effects and minimize the visual impact of our presence on the local aesthetic.

In addition, our regulated, on-site water treatment plant purifies the raw river and rainwater used in the facility cooling system, so it meets the requirements needed to re-enter the freshwater ecosystem.

This system, just like everything else within our state-of-the-art plant, is 100% electrically self-sufficient thanks to the Steam and Power Generation Unit. The area generates all the power the plant needs and any additional capacity can be offered to the local grid. Plus, it indirectly reduces overall site CO2 emissions and eliminates our impact on the surrounding power grid.

This only scratches the surface of all the impressive new features the new Shell Polymers Pennsylvania polyethylene plant brings to the industry, and customer experiences.

_{¹ IHS Markit Study. “Prospects to Enhance Pennsylvania’s Opportunities in Petrochemical Manufacturing.” Mar. 2017, p. 50.}