How Will Process Control Staffing Survive?

Overview

Technology is changing and fast.  Labor availability and skillset requirements are changing as well.  Process control staffing of personnel makeup and skillsets have evolved over decades of iterations.  The process industries are challenged to continue to operate efficiently in an increasingly competitive environment.  At the 2017 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, ARC Advisory Group hosted a roundtable discussion that enabled end users to exchange ideas on the changing responsibilities and skillsets in the operational technology space and discuss strategies to address these challenges.

This session followed a session on rethinking the role of process control in which three end users presented their challenges and thoughts.  After a brief recap of that session, we asked attendees from a diverse set of process industries to consider five questions to spur discussion.

• What challenges does your organization currently face with regards to process control? Can you identify the cause(s)?
• Discuss the “ideal” process control organization.
• What technologies do you see helping address your challenges? (Such as analytics, tools, and advanced apps.) Which ones and how? What business processes have changed?
• How have you engaged with HR (human resources) to address the problem?  What successes have you experienced? What are your biggest concerns?

• How have you engaged with your suppliers to address the problem?  What are your biggest concerns?

Process Control Challenges

Finding talent is a struggle.  Most process companies prefer chemical engineers as process control staff.  However, universities do not appear to emphasize process control training.  People with process knowledge are rare.  Chemical engineers with specific process knowledge and proper skillsets are even harder to find.  End users also noted that process control encompasses many divergent specialties, making it more difficult to find the right people.  Two overall skillsets – knowledge of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) – make this extremely difficult.  This scarcity also makes it difficult to retain good process control resources.

It was also noted that management does not seem to recognize that the organization needs this “digital” engineer.  Because the skillsets needed lead to operational siloes (even within the process control department), users are challenged on how to justify the seemingly extra staff needed to address these areas.  Attendees also voiced a struggle with finding the best way to leverage people efficiently and acknowledged a need to identify transferable skillsets.

Another issue expressed was how to deal with cybersecurity, particularly since virtually all available cybersecurity professionals are already employed.  Engineers are pulled in all directions.  The group posed the question: “What skills are really needed?”

The “Ideal” Organization

There was no shortage of opinions during the discussion on the ideal organization.  One group settled on a list loosely based on technology siloes, but added purchasing.  Their complete list is automation & control, HMI, system, and procurement.  However, the discussion led to other ponderings like: “Why do IT/OT have to be separate?” and “How can a company create the right incentives and build trust?”

Groups also discussed the impact of organizational culture and how the design of a process control organization must account for the corporate or site culture.  Many agreed that because of the way technology has evolved, OT must follow IT.  As such, the two organizations should report to a single point.  It was clear that some participants still harbor a distrust of IT from experience.

Promising Technologies

On the topic of helpful technologies currently available or upcoming, opinions varied wildly.  Some felt technology has only made things worse and could not identify any helpful technologies.  Instead, technology made things more complex requiring more resources.  This group did recognize technology’s usefulness to the maintenance organization.

Others identified ways in which communications technology offers better collaboration.  They also identified technologies that allow organizations to capture experience in processes/procedures and make this knowledge readily available.  QR codes and other tagging systems on instrumentation allow personnel to quickly access the appropriate manuals.  Predictive maintenance tools are also becoming more mainstream and permit right-sizing the maintenance organization.

One group noted that it took a while to realize the value of APC (advanced process control).  One participant cited his company’s implementation of integrated operation centers for offshore assets and how these centers have made the organization more efficient by bringing pertinent resources together and facilitating accelerated collaboration.  The company used the NIST model as a guide.

Some workshop participants also called out data analytics (an example given was Billy Bean and the Oakland A’s making decisions slightly faster and slightly better) as a method to augment personnel and more quickly react to challenges.  It was noted that the answer doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to point personnel in the right direction.

Engaging Human Resources:  A War for Talent

This topic is intriguing in the sense that HR personnel themselves have little personal experience with the needs of process control.   Several attending the session have engaged HR through preliminary reporting, using consequences like abnormal situation avoidance to justify the resources.  Some have used contractors to augment staff, instead of hiring people directly.

A few realities were revealed as well.  New hires would prefer to work at Amazon, Alphabet, Uber, etc. instead of often-dirty, distant, and/or dangerous industrial facilities.   Some mentioned that the trailing off of hiring in the 1980s and 1990s created an experience gap in the market.  When you find experienced hires, there’s a culture clash between old and new companies.

Many have concluded that they have no long-range expectations for retention.  One company uses a five-year rotation for new engineers and suggested making the acceptance of an assignment at a less desirable site easier, with a fixed time frame if it doesn’t work out.  A second company recruited engineers directly to small towns for a term of two to three years before possibility of going to corporate.  A third company had an 18-month minimum assignment, but provided the option to request a move.  A fourth company built a model based on five- to seven-year employee turnover.  People sometimes marry in their smaller community, which might be a good thing.

Some suggested that companies should get involved in high schools, interacting with students interested in engineering so they can discuss all the options, including tech school.  Attendees emphasized a consistent presence at the schools of interest and those involved in the program should communicate the challenges and what excites them about the work.

If you hire locally, they may stay with the company longer term as their mobility may be constrained.  Individuals that went away to college are potentially more mobile than those with ties to “home.”

There was some discussion about the competence of “GED” students.  Example given: During the Gulf War surge, the military changed the requirement from high school degree to a general educational development degree (GED).  This was not viewed as a success, and the requirement was changed back to a high school degree.  Participants seemed to agree that the best discipline for process control engineering roles are chemical engineering graduates.  However, most agreed that the key is strong critical thinking skills.  One quote offered was, “Hire for character, train for competency.”  The challenge is how to measure character.

It seems that everyone is going after the same relatively small pool of technically adept people.  We heard one end user mention that of 100 potential hires, only 27 met the absolute minimum requirements for various reasons.  That spawned a discussion of how a company could make itself more attractive.  The other, perhaps more difficult approach and certainly longer term, is to increase the number of candidates that meet minimum requirements.

Engaging Suppliers

Many suppliers are positioning themselves as part of the solution to address the difficulty in maintaining process control staff.  Many in the group identified using a consultant to back fill positions and duties as a possible solution, but also wondered about the best way to decide who to contract with.  Most agreed that it’s great to use supplier-provided services for system-level work, like patching and some upgrades.  Some noted that upstream oil & gas companies contract out most systems work.  Using suppliers or an engineering company also allows users to supplement staff in high-demand situations.

We heard hesitation expressed concerning maintaining company standards and “centerlining” process control processes to minimize variability.  Concerns were also voiced that outsourcing to engineering firms was akin to auto body shops being able to provide interchangeable technical resources.  These concerns basically centered around contractor management.  This is especially a problem for organizations in which key unit operations are not standardized within the enterprise.

Recommendations

“Business as usual” has changed to “unusual.” The challenges are many and solutions are involved and arduous.  The labor shortage is intensifying and companies are at various stages of coming to grips with the problem.  Some see hope in new technology, but no one sees reduced dependence on humans in the future.  

Based on ARC research and analysis, we recommend the following actions for owner-operators and other technology users:

• The problem is universal.  Industry needs to work together if a solution is to be found.  Industry groups like AFPM and SOCMA need to take a greater role in facilitating solutions like educational outreach.
• Engage in public relation programs.  Every spill, release, or explosion reduces the favorability of the industry.  Without credible countermeasures to the negative publicity, fewer will consider working in this industry.
• Capture the knowledge leaving your organization.  Technology is available to allow companies to institutionalize that knowledge and make it easily available throughout the organization.
• Avoid internal operational silos.  Why go through the effort to justify more engineers and cost, when silos can be removed by addressing the nature of the operational work process?
• Plan the work, work the plan.  If your organization has no plan to deal with this, your competitors will make your business more difficult.
• Leveraging outsourced resources is no longer optional.  Process control personnel need to focus on applying technology effectively, not maintaining it.  That skill belongs with the OEM, regardless of the deployment model.  The continued trepidation with regards to outsourcing must be overcome through collaboration and partnership with suppliers.
• ARC clients may also want to refer to an earlier ARC Insight on organizational design.

 

If you would like to buy this report or obtain information about how to become a client, please  Contact Us

Keywords: Process Control, Staffing, Human Resources, Skillsets, OT, IT, ARC Advisory Group.