Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

Yeah, I hear ya', but, at this point it's a foregone conclusion. Ain't no changin' it now. You boys are f#cked. Enjoy it or leave.

@2evp+1fga1wUD

Well said, exactly!

@1xsa+1fga1wUD You don’t get it. It’s not just about the lack of experience and skills. We’re expected to train our replacements and let them suck everything out of our heads. Just so they can replace us for a fraction of the costs. And our tax dollars are used to fund the colleges to export our jobs. There is a passive resistance under the surface … wtf should I help take food off my table, my children or grandchildren so that Dillwood and crowd fund their hill country mansions.

My experience so far is that KLTC has some very experienced local engineers on their staff. We need to work together If you need to coach a younger engineer a bit or get someone with a bit more experience involved, I think you can easily do that and make it a learning opportunity. I am old timer who worked in Malaysia long before the advent of the KLTC.

To make things even more complex, at least KLTC is doing the “work” themselves. With BTC, which is XOM employees, much of the work is farmed out to MSP (contractor companies). The MSP guys I have dealt with seem ok and have experience while most of the BTC are new hires. Lots of infighting between the groups is occurring.
One has to wonder about the companies logic around this structure.

Book smart - maybe. Plant experience - zero. Attended a training session given by a so called KLTC specialist. Almost dropped down from my chair when he couldn’t differentiate a chemical compound from another. Basic knowledge that even a high school student knew. Unfortunately KLTC in most part is EMRE , one of the most arrogant org in EM before the reorg. So don’t hold your hopes that these young ones will be humble and learn. Most glad the as----e RS has been asked to retire after the reorg

I worked with KLTC folks in the past 2 years in PMA space. I guess we should not blame them directly because they were hired in EM without clearly knowing what KLTC is. Imagine that some of them never been physically at the process plants and then they are pushed to provide analysis, give recommendations and deliver value. Even some of them graduated in US/UK top universities, i dont think it is easy task for them. Overall, I feel like it doesnt make sense. It is like we are asking a cat to swim like a fish. Even though sometime they are making annoying request, in general I pity them.

I wish all the best to them. EM management need to rethink the strategy of having KLTC/BTC since I dont think it is effective and sustainable although the cost is justified!

@1awc+1fga1wUD

lol I remember that Linkedin post. The politics driving KLTC and these other tech centers is disgusting and corrupting the company culture.

There is a lot of incompetence in these low valued technology centers and the risk is compounded because the Detailed Design Contractors and EPC Contractors are using these low value countries for their design work.

Less than competent low cost country Designers being checked by EM’s less than competent technology center is a recipe for a catastrophe.

Any time I bring something new and good to my site I am consistently fly asked by the LT if/how KLTC contributed… I am never asked my opinion about them in general.

I think plenty of them are well educated and intelligent. If I was 12 hours removed from my process unit and got, at most, a four week visit at the beginning of my career I’m not sure I would be very good either. I have occasionally gotten a good PMA engineer who tries hard and learns, but they’re either a group lead or gone within a year or so.

Reminds me of a linked in post I saw from an upper manager about engineers coming from KLTC to lend their expertise during a T/A bit n BR. Expertise? Wtf? You’re talking about a field trip where they got to tunnel some towers.

They sent one to BT once during a turnaround. Provided zero value. I saw the mechanical engineer doing hot tap process data sheets for him right in the middle of the downtime.

Previous posts are correct. You would think that KLTC single handily started up units. The Gulf Coast restart is a perfect example of the toxic culture and the performance process. Managers get good marks and their incentives for promoting KLTC. It is in their interest to shove their noses up someone’s a$$ for brownie points. But management never highlights the F ups that KLTC/BTC are responsible for or the poor quality of work that makes it useless. They get a pass on things that would ruin the career of others.

Follow the money and promotion opportunities and you’ll understand why management pushes certain initiatives. Of course this all starts at Dallas which is totally out of touch with day to day activities in part because middle management insulates them from the truth.

At least you have staff focused on EM activities alone. Try dealing with HCL, where one call they're dealing with banking customers in Singapore, next call taking lubricants orders from New Zealand...

@jav: 💯. I've been working with KLTC >5 yr now. Book smart, but could not pick out a control valve from a block valve from a centrifugal pump. Don't know signal from noise from transmitter precision. Watching a petrochemical plant run via SeeQ != running/troubleshooting one. We've hired a lot fresh grads in their mid-20's. Will they want to do the job 10 years from now when they are married & have kids? NTFL. We will be setting up a TC in Lagos by then...

KLTC folks are smart. Book smart but lack practical experience. They will never get any practical experience as there are way too many of them. They will forever be plot jockeys and will never be taken seriously by the sites. I feel bad for them.

Engaging with KLTC is just a check in the box for site engineers and site leadership teams. It’s like putting on lip balm when your lips are dry. You put it on then forget about it.

KLTC is a step above BTC however that bar is pretty low

So who passed the story on to senior management that KLTC engineers impressively restart the entire Gulf Coast. Sounds like there’s lots of exaggeration from the ranks below. At any rate, anyone that has a clue knows that it take many hands on the ground to restart a unit.

BTC has many that can turn the crank on the sausage grinder, few that are able to test assumptions and develop reasonable conclusions, and fewer that are concerned about the quality of work delivered. It’s an insult to those that have been laid off and also to those that remain.

I remember about this time last year, Richard Senior & Nick Jones (VPs) sat in an employee forum, making statements about how kltc impressively restarted the entire gulf coast facilities after the freeze.

And I was there like, you dense sh**s, you clearly don’t know the work that goes into crashing and restarting process units. That’s when I knew there was no future here for technical engineers. When the VPs are that out to lunch / gullible/ lying & exaggerating.

Your experience marries up closely with my own.

There are one or two who are very able and keen to learn, who have been identified by their own management team. But the vast majority are either poorly educated, not very bright, or both. There also tends to be virtually zero natural curiosity or willingness to learn.

Everything is about cost-cutting now, quality doesn't matter.

KLTC is all about costs and BTC even more so. In fact expect KLTC jobs to be displaced in the in the future and moved to India. These sites were called low cost centers at one point but they dropped this name to pretend they are as good as what they replace. Sites and support organizations realize this but have little to no say on using these resources with all the layoffs. And they are forced to take on personnel for assignment and learn enough to be their replacement.

The people at these low cost centers are smart enough to know that they are being hired because of costs. They don’t care if they are taking food off the table from someone across the globe. They just want 2-3 years of Exxon on their resume to get a better job. And when they quit the cycle continues as we hire more low cost inexperienced replacements. This model is not sustainable. Unfortunately nothing will change until something bad happens and forces the pendulum swings back. It would be nice if management was held accountable but the have layers of protection to hide behind.