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Killer Quote: "We value not only our employees and contractor safety, but we value their safety and the safety in the environment in which we share with them. And it is something we have to earn, and it's something we have to work at every day." - Daryl Roberts
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Speaker 4: Hi, this is Victoria.
This episode is the fourth in a
series I recorded at ACC's Responsible
Care and Sustainability Conference.
Today, you're going to hear from
Daryl Roberts, who's the Chief
Engineering and Operating Officer.
Of DuPont.
I think you are really going to love
this episode and I know I really
loved my conversation with Daryl.
stood out for me and what I think you're
going to hear is just how people and
value centric Daryl is, and he talks
about the importance of people, of
values, and engaging appropriately
In the community with employees and in
the greater world and thinking really
about the positive impacts that their
products, DuPont's products and other
chemical products make in communities
and how they can enhance sustainability.
So I think that was one of the
things that really, really,
really came through for me.
Um, the second piece is really
this aspect of career perspective.
So.
Darryl would tell you that joining
the chemical industry was natural.
It came as part of a family legacy.
Um, but one of the things that's really
critical to his career and critical to
other people's careers is an openness
to continuous learning and reaching,
growing your career, taking opportunities
and always being open to learning
something new and doing something new.
So.
Lots of great nuggets of wisdom
in this episode with Daryl.
Um, I think you're
really going to enjoy it.
So enjoy the episode.
Thank you for joining us on today's
episode of the chemical show.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.
Speaker 5: A key component of the
modern world economy, the chemical
industry delivers products and
innovations to enhance everyday life.
It is also an industry in transformation
where chemical executives and
workers are delivering growth and
industry changing advancements while
responding to pressures from investors,
regulators, and public opinion.
Discover how leading companies
are approaching these challenges
here on the chemical show.
Join Victoria Meyer, president
of Progressio Global and
host of the chemical show.
As she speaks with executives across the
industry and learns how they are leading
their companies to grow, transform, and
push industry boundaries on all frontiers.
Here's your host, Victoria Meyer.
Victoria: Hi, this is Victoria Meyer.
Welcome back to The Chemical Show.
Today, I am speaking with Daryl
Roberts, who is the Chief Engineering
and Operations Officer for DuPont.
We are at ACC's Responsible Care
and Sustainability Conference.
So our conversation is going to
center on that a little bit, as
well as maybe a few other questions.
Daryl, thanks for joining me.
Daryl: Well, thanks.
It's great to be here with you today.
Victoria (2): Yeah, excited to meet
you and to spend time with you.
Let's talk about your career.
What got you into the chemical
industry and to where you are now?
Daryl: Well, no question that,
uh, that comes from my upbringing.
My, my father was a production operator
at Eastman Kodak, uh, back in the day
when, uh, people actually took pictures
on a camera and got them developed,
you know, to tell people have been
around for a certain number of years.
What a photo Matt booth is, which
many people don't remember any longer.
But yeah, I grew up with the
father who worked in the industry.
Uh, working shift work, uh, was, uh,
uh, really focused on me being, uh,
educated, uh, and really use this position
to really push me to go to school, uh,
that led me into chemical engineering.
I spent a little bit of time in
the service as a chemical officer.
So my expertise from the military and
from an upbringing standpoint really
kind of led me to the industry that
it just felt like I always should have
been a part of, and I've been a part
of it working for a number of companies
from Eastman Kodak to Arkema to DuPont.
But I'm kind of a lifelong, you
know, process chemistry, process
operations, materials person.
It's been a great career and provided me
a way to support my family and my kids.
And it's been just been a great experience
and I've met as I've kind of grown.
Victoria (2): That's really cool.
Okay.
And by the way, side note, have
any of your kids followed you
into the chemical industry?
Daryl: Uh, I've got two
that are both in college.
The oldest is in marketing.
I don't know what she's going to do.
The youngest is in the civil
engineering program at Purdue.
So I didn't get her to chemical
engineering, but I got her to civil and
I'll have to take that as a victory.
Victoria (2): Absolutely.
That's a win.
That's a win.
Daryl: Yes.
Victoria (2): Great.
So we're, we're here and we're talking a
lot this week about, um, responsible care.
So tell me what responsible
care means to you and to DuPont.
Daryl: Yeah.
Part of the reason that, uh, I came to
work at DuPont is because it was very
aligned with my personal beliefs and
values, uh, around, uh, how we operate,
how we think about employee safety, how
we think about the environments in which
we operate and the trust that communities
have, uh, with us and trust that we have
to earn and keep, uh, by operating in a
way that allows them to feel like, uh,
they don't mind us being in the community
and actually see us as a partner from the
education standpoint, from the support,
of everything from what we do, uh, from
volunteer standpoint to us providing jobs.
All of those things, which
are just really important.
So, so DuPont.
Believes in that.
And when I think about responsible
care, it really focuses around that us
being able to work in a community that
values us that knows that we value them
that we value not only our employees
and contractor safety but we value
their safety and the safety in the
environment, uh, which we share with them.
And it is something we have
to earn Uh, and it's something
we have to work at every day.
Victoria (2): Yeah, that's cool.
And in fact, as you say that, it
makes me reflect my first experience
with DuPont as a company, um, and
interacting with some DuPont staff.
Safety is what I would say, right?
Like this real awareness of the
necessary safety of the workplace,
of product handling, et cetera.
So that's, so it's, you
know, part of the DNA.
Daryl: Yeah.
I think that's true.
If you go back through the
history of the company, you know.
Uh, DuPont started off with a
pretty, uh, big explosion five or
10 years after operation, uh, when
we were just making gunpowder.
And from that came a focus on safety
going forward from the DuPont family.
And it stayed with the brand
through all of these years
and some of the original OSHA.
Uh, kind of processes and policies came
from, uh, DuPont, uh, systems that, that
were developed through, uh, the 1900s.
So it's, it's just in the DNA
of the company, uh, and it's
something that, that is unwavering.
Victoria (2): That's really cool.
When we think about sustainability, cause
that's the other flip side of this, right?
Responsible care is kind of the, the
interaction, but sustainability is
another interaction that we have.
What are employees and customers?
And how is DuPont
navigating those priorities?
Daryl: Yeah, so, so first DuPont
thinks about sustainability
in really three pillars.
The first one is innovate and 80 percent
of our product offerings, uh, drive
towards something that will help with
sustainability and solve global problems.
The second is protect, which really kind
of aligns perfectly with responsible care.
Uh, and the third is empower, which is
what we do around empowering communities,
empowering our employees, driving from a
diversity standpoint, uh, in the things
that we do and the things that we value.
So that's kind of how we're
structured, you know, our employees.
Expect us to treat people right.
And like I said, to be part of the
communities in which we operate because
that's where they live, uh, our employees,
especially, you know, those that have
started in the last 5 to 10 years, they
don't want to work for a company that
doesn't really value sustainability, uh,
especially because some have a negative
connotation to the chemical industry.
But that's without knowing us and
knowing what we do and who we are.
Uh, so it's really important that when we
go to speak to students that are potential
hires, that we can speak about our values
and we can speak about sustainability,
the things that we're doing to reduce our
greenhouse gas footprint, the things that
we're doing to provide safe water for
people around the world, the things that
we're doing, uh, to drive, uh, uh, EVs.
with some of our products.
So the things that we do are very
well engaged with sustainability So
we've got to be able to talk about it.
So for our employees and our communities
It's really central to what we do and our
portfolio really is focused on sustainable
solutions and almost across the board.
So it's really helpful to be able to
not only talk about what we do from an
individual standpoint, but to talk about
how what we're innovating the things
that we're thinking about are really
aligned with the things that they value.
Victoria (2): Do you have some
examples that you could share?
Daryl: Sure.
If you look at, uh, a EV today
in the things that you're doing
to, to lightweight vehicles, Uh,
and to reduce the, the greenhouse
footprint of, of our automobiles.
Uh, we make materials, uh,
that are auto adhesives, which
go into electric batteries.
Uh, we make materials, Capton is a,
example that go into the winds and motors.
Uh, so we've got a number of
products which go into EV.
So we're, we're very much on
that uh, in the spectrum there.
We do a lot of things around the
semiconductor chips that you need to be
able to power all of these devices today.
We focus very much on that.
Those are some great examples where a big
company when it comes to water filtration.
Uh, from a municipal standpoint and
putting in, uh, things that allow you to,
uh, to have clean water around the world.
So those are some, I think some really
great examples of our portfolio.
Victoria (2): Yeah.
Things that people don't necessarily think
about when they think about chemicals and
do you want that, uh, are really affecting
everyday life and making it better?
Daryl: Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you know, the other example
I would give you is around, uh,
we have a portfolio that are
around really kind of our shelter.
So insulation for houses, the Tyvek
wrap that everybody knows when you drive
by and you see it going up on houses.
Uh, but we really can consider
that part of it as well.
If you think about the need for
safe living around the world.
Victoria (2): So you talked a
little bit earlier today, um, about
operations and how your, how DuPont
is harnessing data and AI to, um,
drive sustainability and operations.
Can you talk about that a little bit more?
Daryl: Yeah.
I mean, boy, I think you're going
to get left behind if that's not
what you're focused on today.
Right?
Right.
So, so we really feel like
the use and harness of data.
is really key for us to
continue to operate safe and
to get safer as we go forward.
Uh, and how do we take data that before
would have been too hard to collect
and use it in a way which lets us not
just Uh, to, uh, solve issues after
they happen, but to be predictive.
So we're, we're doing, I think, a
really good job at our intelligent
predictive maintenance system
to take data on, you know, pumps
that may not be operating right.
They're overheating, they're cavitating,
uh, and to have signals that we now send
up into the cloud and let third parties
look at not only our data, but data from
other companies, uh, and put that data
together and be able to call us now and
say, Hey, We're looking at thousands
of these across the world and we can
tell you this thing's about to fail.
And we know that when we're
operating in non standard conditions,
that's when processes go bad.
That's when environmental
deviances, uh, deviances happen,
uh, that's when people get hurt.
So anything that we can do to understand
when equipment's not running right, uh,
and, and stop it and correct it before it
fails is a, is a big piece of operating
safe, safety within our community.
So it's something we think a lot
about, and now, and then the next
step is how do we, we use AI and add
AI even further into that by taking
those, you know, uh, everything from
a procedure and now transmitting it
into 17 different languages using AI
very quickly and effectively, uh, to
now taking that procedure and letting
operators have the ability to be able to
ask questions and to be able for AI to
look at our procedures, to look at our
past incidences, uh, To look at outside
data, like incidents that have happened
at other companies and really give an
operator some view of what might be
wrong and use that to try to correct.
That's just, that's so powerful and
something we couldn't have done five
or 10 years ago, but those types
of things are on the forefront of
the way we think about the future.
Victoria (2): Yeah, absolutely.
And it's amazing.
I think about, you know,
early in my career working in
manufacturing, we did a lot of logs.
The operator logs were on paper.
Right.
Right.
Right.
And so it was only as good as
could you flip back any pages
to see what else was happening.
So, uh, the use of data is just really
accelerating those opportunities.
Yeah.
Daryl: And now the operators,
uh, have that data.
They can go back and take a look.
They can look at the best.
The best run we ever had and what
the temperatures and pressure
should be and compare it.
And if something doesn't look right,
the system is telling them immediately.
It's also sending a alert to a engineer
at home and saying, Hey, I think you
should call and check in because I
see something in the process data
that doesn't look normal and your
operators might need your support.
So being able to connect data to people is
really important and those are the things
I think will really be helpful going.
Victoria (2): That's really great.
And when you think about that, how does
this affect your future workforce in
terms of skills and what you're looking
for, for the future employees of DuPont?
Daryl: Sure.
I think, I mean, there's two parts of
that one, you know, I don't want people
to be scared about the use of data
because we're going to need employees,
uh, and we're going to need a lot of them.
And we're gonna need them to be trained
well, and we're gonna put time into
making sure we train people right.
AI will help us train
and help us get better.
It will be a good assist to
our operators of the future.
But but we're gonna need them.
So, first of all, like, I'll start there.
You know, if you think about the
skills that you need, it really kind of
goes to the conversation we just had.
You've got to be able to work with data.
You can't be scared of data.
Uh, so we're going to help teach you those
things, but coming in with the comfort
with using computers, looking at data,
and being comfortable that we're going to,
we're going to train you uh, to understand
the trends and what they mean, but you
should feel empowered to take action.
So if you see something that we don't
feel is safe, we want people that can
stand up and say, I'm not doing this,
there's something here that's not
right, and we're going to take a step
back until we figure out what it is.
So, we're looking for people that are,
that are strong in their conviction
that know what our core values are, uh,
that are going to lead by those, uh,
but can use data and are comfortable
really leading because we expect
all of our employees to be leaders.
It doesn't matter who works
for you to be a leader.
Leaders are people who
make decisions, right?
Absolutely.
So we expect everyone to
have those types of traits.
Those are the people
we're really looking for.
Victoria (2): That's great.
So, so Daryl, you've obviously had
a great career in the industry.
. You've.
Reach some very senior levels
and then areas of opportunities
of influence and leadership.
What do you, you know, what's
the leadership lessons that
you've learned along the way?
And then that's part one.
And then part two is what advice
would you give to somebody who
wants to replicate your career?
Daryl: Yeah, well, that's
an interesting question.
You know, there's, there's been
so many learnings because there's
been so many failures, right?
Uh, and that's how you learn.
So I would tell people to take chances.
Uh, you know, it's important that when
people give you opportunities to stretch
yourself and work in an area that you
haven't worked in in the past, that you
take the time to do so, because I think
that's where the learning happens when
you're working, you know, in a field or
an area that's not comfortable for you.
So I'm a chemical engineer that also
took opportunities to work in E.
H.
S.
And got some experience of that
and took the time to work in supply
chain and learn what it means.
You know where the product
goes when you're shipping it.
And that's helped me as I've grown
because it's allowed me to have a very
diverse view of what operations mean.
So So for me, that's important.
That's those have been
some of the lessons for me.
So that goes along with what
I would tell people is find a
way to continue your education.
It doesn't have to be formal,
there's all types of ways.
It can be taking a class online,
it can be signing up for a training
program that the company offers.
It can be getting on and finding
something on YouTube about something that
you just wanted to learn more about.
And it can be anything from
how you lead people to how a
centrifugal pump works right?
And I've always been interested in
those things and learning and having
that kind of lifelong learning
mindset, I think is really important.
I think when you have that mindset,
people notice and they tend to give
you opportunities to do more because
they know that you're, uh, you're
really thinking about, about what's
next and how you develop yourself and
how you develop others around you.
So, um, Those would be some
of the things I think about.
Victoria (2): Awesome.
Thank you.
Well, Darrell, thank you
for joining us today.
This has been a really great conversation.
Daryl: Well, great.
Thank you.
Appreciate the time.
Victoria (2): Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us on
today's episode of the chemical show.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.
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Simply visit TheChemicalShow.
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