Downstream 2019: Advisory Board of Major Downstream Executives Meeting in Houston to Discuss Rising Workforce Demands

The group of leaders from across the spectrum of capital projects, reliability, maintenance & process engineering will be at a meeting in Houston November 12

HOUSTON, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- November 8 2018
Advisory Board of Major Downstream Executives Meeting in Houston to Discuss Meeting Rising Workforce Demands

With more than 80% of project, site and maintenance executives researched ahead of Downstream 2019 citing ‘resourcing’ as their most immediate challenge when running capital projects, site operations and maintenance, it’s clear that more attention needs to be given to problem than ever before.
For the industry to act, first it will be critical to align key definitions and best practice in learning & development, talent acquisition and future skills sustainability.
That’s why Petrochemical Update has decided to make the critical issue of ‘workforce development’ a cornerstone not only of the Downstream 2019 program, but also central to the work of the full conference advisory board.
This group of business leaders from across the spectrum of capital projects, reliability, maintenance & process engineering will be at an invite-only meeting in Houston on November 12 to reflect on the challenge and offer invaluable peer insights with a view to overcoming this major challenge.
A select group of 50 executives will be joining us for the afternoon, including:

VP Petrochemicals Audobon
Project Operations Lead Bechtel
LNG Plant Services Manager Bechtel
PRC Digital Strategy Analyst Chevron
VP Technical Site Management Covestro
Global EPC Contract Manager Dow Chemical
DFRAM Global Expertise Leader Dow Chemical
Senior Project Manager DowDuPont
Global Director of Construction Execution Fluor
VP Projects Freeport LNG
Senior Procurement Specialist INEOS
VP & General Manager Petroleum & Chemicals Jacobs
SVP Strategy & Business Development Jacobs
VP Downstream Kiewit
Global Manager – Performance Improvement LyondellBasell
President Sandpiper Chemicals
IT Innovation Lead Shell New Energies

The meeting will take place over the afternoon of November 12. In a presentation to the Advisory Board, Peter Beard (SVP Workforce Development, Greater Houston Partnership) will explore the critical resource needs in the petrochemicals industry to better measure workforce availability stresses over the next five years. Moreover, what needs to be done to overcome corporate barriers and respond to the urgency of the gap between resource need and projected capacity.

Attendees will then join roundtable sessions which will first agree on a definition of the ‘workforce equation’. Does every company treat each issue the same? Where are the gaps? Each table will share best practice on one of the key areas (talent acquisition, learning & development and future skills needs) and one success story (How are we meeting the challenge now? Technology, modularization/prefab, training etc). Each table will also come up with one ‘blue sky’ solution and discuss strategies to address urgency at the executive level. Petchem-Update will note and produce a paper on the shared learnings.

Kerr Jeferies, Project Director for Downstream 2019 said: ‘Our 3-month research phase for Downstream 2019 generated several key themes – all of which will be covered on June 11-12 2019 in Houston at the world’s premier event for the Downstream industry. However, at this Advisory Board meeting, we are focusing on an issue of rapidly rising importance for the whole value chain so that we may uncover vital lessons learned and new practices for responding to critical project and workforce resourcing challenges; the opportunities of talent acquisition and availability, learning & development, resource/skills shortages, workforce sustainability, project competitiveness, labor quality and project safety.
This invite-only meeting is a chance for top executives to explore these issues in depth, and we will be publishing a whitepaper of findings and recommendations aimed at senior executives in the downstream industry as a result’.

Downstream 2019 (June 11-12, Houston, Texas) will be on a scale never seen before, bringing together 10,000 exhibition visitors, 3,000+ conference attendees and more than 350+ trade booths. Also, at the Advisory Board Meeting, the event organizers will provide a critical overview of how this scale will be possible and speak to the core themes of content generated in the 3-month program research phase.

Sasha Marks
Petrochemical Update
+44 20 7375 7209
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Downstream 2018