Safety solved through trusted partnership

Nexeo Solutions is the largest global chemical and plastics distributor with a centralised business model. With operations worldwide, Nexeo Solutions offers over 27,000 products used in a broad cross-section of industries, including chemicals manufacturing, energy, paints and coatings, automotive, health care and personal care.

For Nexeo, traditional methods of managing a project meant contracting several different providers (outside engineering and programming, mechanical, electrical, purchasing equipment) in order to get a job done. Not only was this highly inefficient, this was also proving to be an issue with after-installation support and resulting in inconsistent programming updates.

As part of a 2-year HSSE initiative, Nexeo Solutions required an accurate, consistent and repeatable truck loading automation solution that could easily be implemented across its 26 sites. Because implementing this type of initiative across 26 sites was an immense task, Nexeo needed to find a way to better streamline its project management process. But, this task could not be taken on by any partner — Nexeo needed a trusted advisor that it could depend on for all of its project needs.

To ensure safe loading of hazardous and expensive products, Nexeo first required accurate and reliable process measurements such as flow and level but also a correctly designed and implemented control system that would ensure the safe and timely loading of raw goods. Nexeo also needed a solution that could decrease truck loading times while guaranteeing product quality for its customers.

However, Nexeo needed more than just instrumentation and process control — they needed a ‘total turnkey solution’ provider with a high level of expertise whom they could depend on to support their ongoing needs throughout the entire life cycle of the project.

By taking a team approach, Nexeo and Endress+Hauser project managers, engineers and contractors partnered to deliver a solution for truck loading, which included complete project management (including the general contractor role), embedded on-site engineering resources, start-up services and training, and around-the-clock support and troubleshooting.

To ensure best practices for the safe loading of expensive, flammable liquids into trucks, Endress+Hauser incorporated safe truck mass flow metering skids and truck overspill protection into Nexeo’s loading process in order to mitigate any associated risks and increase efficiencies. Integration with a Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley CompactLogix control system and PanelView was also included.

At Nexeo, safety is always the first priority. “We take great pride in constructing a safety-conscious culture,” said Nexeo Solutions. “In selecting a solution provider, it was important we partnered with a business that shared these same values — Endress+Hauser truly lived and breathed the same culture so it just made sense.”

Endress+Hauser fully integrated all scales, pumps, grounding and bounding, and high-level instrumentation with the necessary emergency stops, pump shutdown and alarm to safeguard against any static discharge or overflow events during loading. New truck rack air ventilation systems were also upgraded and installed where needed resulting in improved working environments for operators while ensuring compliance.

From start to finish, Endress+Hauser project managers and engineers managed the entire project, serving as the general contractor role and single point of contact. Instead of Nexeo having to hire a project manager on its own to manage the job, which would have taken time and money, Endress+Hauser stepped in and supported the entire life cycle and all key components of the project — providing the highly skilled engineers, hiring and managing the contractors, procurement, design and fabrication, installation, overall engineering, start-up, commissioning, and even training Nexeo site operators on how to use the new equipment and processes put in place.

“What differentiates Endress+Hauser from all other providers is — not only did they have a large team of technical experts and engineers to provide Nexeo with additional horse power we wouldn’t have had on our own, they truly have skin in the game,” the director of engineering at Nexeo Solutions explained. “Endress+Hauser jumped in and was ready to problem solve and provided us with a solution that was unique to us.”

By embedding the necessary Endress+Hauser engineering resources on-site, Nexeo was able to substantially reduce project overhead costs, speed up the project timeline resulting in faster time to market, mitigate risks and increase efficiencies by quickly responding to day-to-day hurdles and adapting to change.