Have Clinton and Paulsboro been downsized and line up for closure? It seems that is the plan and move all remaining assets of value to Houston, Baytown, or similar. And outsource testing and transportable items to low cost regions and contractors such as India, China, or Malaysia.
What are people hearing?
Interesting that they're taking "research" out of the org name
Anyone know how the reorg will affect Clinton?
I see the NJRSC “team” are still being promoted, can’t make this stuff up …..what a joke .
Wasn’t that name involved in the move from Paulsboro? Anyone can confirm or rebut this?
Well, apparently all will be revealed tomorrow. Who will be the tribute(s)? May the odds be ever in your favor! Good luck, y'all.
I thought the same thing about the replacement.
New VP is already in Clinton... A Bishop.
Polymers recycle old technology and show old ideas as new concepts
I think the days of the VP at Clinton are numbered
Clinton is a stupid place and seriously lax intelligent quotient.
The so called material scientists, data scientist, polymer experts, physicists, chemists, etc. researchers do not produce anything respectable. Nothing these fokkers do is worthy of publications. It seems like a collection of useless researchers being managed by even more worthless section heads and lab directors. This eco system is enhanced by a blah manager and a untrustworthy and insincere VP.
With the overall workforce shrinking, space becoming available in Houston and the Research Tax Credit going away, the writing is on the wall for Annadale. More and more product development has been farmed out to additive suppliers. More and more of the standard oil and grease testing is being sent out to 3rd party labs, because the Clinton Analytical labs won't touch anything that isn't from VJ's CSR or "One Research" Department. The Marketers know this and will cut product development funding, further reducing Clinton's viability.
Now factor in the motor industry's move to electrified vehicles and reduced investment in internal combustion engine development. ILSAC/API engine oil classifications will soon freeze and then EM will abandon its efforts in engine oil and fuels research. There will be no need to formulate "better than competition" formulations in a shrinking market, so they might as well go the ad-pack route. Therefore, engine testing will stop and all of those test cells will go quiet and be mothballed.
The Mobil 1 group has already reduced in size, significantly. Other groups are disappearing as the additive suppliers do the job for EM, with no headcount related costs and everything paid for in the material order contracts (expense budget rather than capital). In this scenario, the only thing that makes sense is for most staff in Annandale to be pink-slipped and for a reduced number of "experts" to be moved to Houston (ironically, closer to the universities and companies conducting the real Algae and CCS research).
No one involved in the NJRSC activities could understand why they moved the projects and people from Paulsboro to Annandale. Maybe VJ and the other senior managers simply refused to move ? Even back in 2017/18, it seemed like the #1 option should have been to move the CSR projects and people to Paulsboro (much cheaper location with several empty buildings); and the #2 option should have been to close Paulsboro and Clinton and move a downsized workforce to Houston. Still ... when have any of the company's big logistics moves ever made sense ? They seem to love throwing away millions of dollars.
No. Because if there is any news regarding Exxon in general. It will be leaked to a news source. Clinton EMRE will still exist
If the corporation is serious about high cost locations, Annandale is in the cross hairs. The engine testing, blending, and industrial test rigs can surely be outsourced, and lab work moved to Texas. Outsourcing was being discussed in 1998 when Linden was closed, timing is right for this and Dallas still has its foot on the gas with OPEX reduction. Not to mention the high cost of union mechanical support, 102-475 this budget is huge yearly ..This facility has been a sham for a long time , nobody’s doing anything! huge budget and nothing technical to show for the corporation. This site management is truly toxic, the wage folks have been treated terrible with no cost of living for almost 4 years and inflation at a a 40 year high , can’t see the site surviving, the move from Paulsboro was a huge mistake. Research tax credit is gone, do we need this high cost facility “NO” more cost effective ways to accomplish “research “ Even the reorganization will be a joke , so sad, …best of luck there is a plan……..
It would cost upwards of $5 billion to move facilities to TX.
If research and the future means anything to this company.
So it's a toss-up.
Clinton site, specially Corporate Strategic Research (CSR) is atrocious. The program managers, lab directors, section heads, project leads, and researchers are some of the biggest frauds and incompetents in the society. It is a dirty and abused dumpster collecting dirt employees at best!
Just because it’s running full bore doesn’t mean it’s profitable or can’t be replaced by 3P labs in low cost countries. Will quality of work and results be as good? Probably not. But, does it really matter in the grand scheme? Again, probably not. Regarding specialized skill sets, it sounds harsh, but who cares? How are those specialized skills translating into bottom line value? 90%+ of initiatives in Clinton go into the abyss to never be seen again. That facility is more for show and tell when the dog and pony shows come through, plus getting the previous corporate tax write-off for R&D. But, that’s no more with the new tax law in place. I think the writing is on the wall, likely to be announced soon.
I agree with above commenter. I just don’t think it will fully close. The engines and the industrial rigs are running full bore, damn near over capacity. They’re also hiring 3-4 people as we speak. I think desk Jockeys and pencil pushers will be shipped to Houston or laid off bud I don’t think the doors will close permanently as long as R&D Ops is there. The skill set is too specialized to outsource.
Absolutely not gonna happen - it is possible that some Houston folks have to move to Clinton though……