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Hi, this is Victoria Meyer. Welcome back to the chemical show where chemicals means business. Today, I am speaking with Alina Green from the WICA group. She's a market segment specialist, and she helps clients and companies across the industry optimize their processes and implement strategies to achieve their business plans and doing it in a way. And in fact, this is an interesting angle from what we often talk about bringing in.
Automation instrumentation, and really tying it into the core operations of chemical companies and energy companies. So that's a little bit of what we're going to be talking about today. Really hope you enjoyed this conversation, Alina. Welcome to the chemical show.
Thank you. Thank you, Victoria. I'm a big fan of your show, so I'm really excited to be here.
Thank you. Glad to hear that. Well, let's just start with your origin story. What, how did you get interested in engineering and then instrumentation and valves and ultimately energy and chemicals? You've had quite a lot of experience and, and really technical in market related experience.
I think with that, I'll have to start, uh, earlier in, uh, in, in my life. I grew up in, uh, in Romania in post communist Romania. And that's, uh, that's where I went to school. I, grew up in, uh, as an only child, uh, in, uh, uh, a family where both my parents were agricultural engineers, we had a little bit of land.
And, uh, and, uh, I spend most of my summers, helping out at the farm because we used to go to a farmer's market quite a bit, and you're going to ask, why is this relevant to, to what we're talking about, but, uh, I'm, I'm getting there, so that kind of helped me, you know, it did two things for me. Uh, one, uh, I was actually pretty good when, uh, during COVID when everybody was, uh, starting their own, vegetable gardens, I actually got the envy of my friends and neighbors.
I was pretty good at that, but also kind of helped me be comfortable with, uh, with tough environments, you know, working outside and, and, and just be able to, to do things with my hands. My, my parents also put a big focus on schooling. So, so schooling was, was important. Uh, there was absolutely no way I wasn't going to go to college.
But kind of going to the, the second thing that did, uh, that, that did for me when, um, after I graduated from, from chemical engineering, um, I got an opportunity with Schlumberger, to work in a field, to work on oil rigs. Which is one of those things that you think about, Oh, it's kind of cool. But when you're there, it's cold and it's wet and you're outside for 12 hour shifts and, and
you're kind of a little bit isolated. Yeah.
Yep. That wasn't a challenge that I was afraid of. Right. I thought I could do it. And, uh, you know, it provided me with the opportunity to travel and meet people from, from all over the world. And that kind of, uh, for me in a way of being able to take challenges, um, you know, you had in your show, a few weeks ago, you had the BASF, uh, um, uh, CEO in, in your show. And he said something that it, it stuck with me and I really liked that. And I think that's what I, I apply in my career.
Um, always take a job that, that you're able to grow into. And I've, I've done that with every role that I've, that I've taken throughout my career. so worked in the field for a couple of years, then moved to Houston. Uh, worked in the lab, I, uh, was the lab manager, I did some project management before, before moving to, to WICA in, uh, in the instrumentation manufacturing work. So everything was, was, uh, kind of a, hey, there's a new challenge. Can I do it? Hmm. I'm not sure. Let's try. I
love that. And I think that's right. And, um, by the way, I grew up on a farm myself. So, um, I understand how that ties into, you know, not being afraid of hard work. It, Kind of gives you this whole mechanical sense, which ties very well into engineering. And then there's a whole lot to be said with seeing the fruits of your labors, right? Which also, um, I think links very well to engineering and to what you do today. So, um, that's really cool. When did you move from Romania to the U S
Um, 2012, um, yeah, so it was an intercompany transfer, here in, in Houston.
awesome. That's really cool. So tell us a little bit about, uh, the WICA group. People may not be fully familiar.
So WICA has been in business for over 75 years. Uh, it's still a family owned company, a third generation. The current owners, his, uh, his grandfather started, uh, the, um, company, as a gauge company. So he was, uh, he put together a company that they were very good at, selecting different materials and welding techniques. Um, so that's kind of how. Um, how the company grew, it's a German company.
It was founded in the West of Germany, where, uh, where that, that after World War II, that, offered a, a prosper environment for, for growing a business. The company was handed over to the original owner's son, which, uh, actually lost his life in a tragic accident. I don't know that the exact details to, to share, but he was, he was shot by one of his friends. And his wife, uh, was, uh, was left with the business in an environment where, like you and I were male dominated environment.
And she absolutely, um, exploded growing the business, internationally, um, and, uh, and open, uh, several subsidiaries, Wyca still has, uh, and she was also very focused on, employees well being. She started a scholarship and Wyca still has a, um, uh, Ursula vegan scholarship. Fund that, that, the employees can tap into for their, their dependents.
That's nice. That's nice. So. So I know a big part of your role, um, at Weika is identifying market trends and opportunities, and helping connect what Weika can do with what customers can do and, and driving direction there. What are the key industry trends influencing your business and your customers today?
My main focus is on the downstream market. Um, there are several, of my colleagues that focus on, uh, on other markets, uh, the way that WICA has been, been funded, as an instrumentation company. We have some traditional markets that we know we're strong in, uh, we're strong in, in industrial gases, instrumentation for industrial gases, power generation. Um, downstream market or upstream oil and gas, things like water wastewater.
So we know what markets we can serve, and we stay close to, to our customers and, and, and partners. So that, basically helps us as a company know which products that, that we should be developing, which products we should be focusing on. What are some of the gaps in our portfolio that we should be probably investing some, some, the R and D, in a nutshell. We know what we're good at and we try to stay there and grow in those fields.
Yeah, that makes sense. And, and certainly I think you guys must be tied very closely really with this whole trend around digitization, digital transformation, certainly of manufacturing and operations, the industrial internet of things. Can you talk about that at all?
It kind of ties in with what, what I was, previously, uh, discussing. So we have the traditional markets, but then from those markets, you know, if you know your downstream markets. You know that there's trends that there's, there's focuses on, on decarbonization, from a perspective of carbon capture from hydrogen, you know, what are some of those applications that we could be supporting as a, as a manufacturer? What are some of the challenges that, um, that we can help overcome?
And that's kind of where, where, where we're going with our strategy when it comes to, um, to the new trends.
Okay. So continuing to kind of expand and go deeper, with these markets and opportunities.
Exactly. Exactly.
you talk about any examples? I mean, I know you work closely with your business partners and your customers. Do you have an example where you've really been able to help, um, create a transformation with the company as it relates to being able to respond to some of these trends like digitization and decarbonization?
Um, yeah, actually I did a, a, um, uh, paper, a joint paper with Chevron with, the Pascagoula refinery on, uh, a solution that they've implemented in, in their, amine unit. So, uh, basically what they were looking for was to optimize their unit. The way that, um, amine units work in a, in a refinery, they're utilized to clean acid gases, to capture CO2, capture H2S from, uh, from the off gases. So it's not really one of those units that produce. for the refinery.
But it, but it keeps the refinery operating.
exactly, but, but because it doesn't, it's not linked directly to a revenue, they tend to be kind of put to the side, um, when it comes to investments. Um, we did work so, so the way that, that this started, uh, we had a young engineer, younger engineer that, um, was interested in, doing an energy efficiency project on, uh, on this unit.
Um, so the, the way this unit, uh, operates, the amine circulates and, and picks up the, the gases, and then it's being regenerated in a separate unit that, that regenerator uses. steam to clean up the gases and then it keeps circulating the amine. So, you know, long story short, not to go too deep into the process, they were able to optimize the way that the amine was, was circulated by having. More, temperature visibility in, in the unit.
Uh, this is a exothermic reaction, so it generates heat. They can see exactly where that that's taking place and they can use that data to, to optimize how the unit unit operates, and can really. Um, have some significant cost savings by not utilizing as much steam into, into the process. So just an example of a low hanging fruit type of project where, you know, the investment is minimum, below, you know, 50K.
Long term, it could produce significant, um, savings for the plant and less carbon emissions. You're generating less steam. Um, you're not utilizing your boilers. You're not putting CO2 into, into the environment as, as much. I love this one because it's so easy, so simple, so elegant, and it could be applied in, in other situations, just being able to see how your unit operates and, and, uh, use that to optimize it basically.
Yeah. I think it's great. And I think, it becomes a cost savings, energy savings, and as you point out, really a sustainability story being able to optimize around that. What do you find is the key differentiator when you are working, um, with customers and, and finding these solutions? What really differentiates it, what helps you figure out how to tailor these solutions and identify really projects, and solutions that have, what sounds like a pretty high return on investment
Well, I think it's a, it's important to really know your applications in your market. It's important to understand where are the areas that could be improved. I think big CapEx projects will be there and they're great. There's. Big investments and they make the news. These, these little projects won't make the news. But really understanding how you can optimize your process and what are some of the tools that are available that are available right now, we're not needing to develop new materials.
We're not needing to, create new technology. Um, you know, what can we do? From, from, uh, a vendor operator, relationship to optimize the process. And for me personally, I attend so many conferences throughout the year because I really want to understand, what are some of the challenges and really understand the process very well.
makes sense. Well, and I think, you know, and maybe you've already touched on this, but I think these ideas of, um, identifying the challenges and incorporating some of the tools, To optimize the operations to help digitize the operational interface is so critical, yet it often seems the companies that are the most able to engage are the biggest companies, right? With the, with the deepest pockets, right?
So Chevron is a great example, but it sounds like, um, That these solutions are actually in, in touch for a lot of companies of various sizes. Cause of course we know that, you know, something like 80 percent of the chemical industry is a really small to midsize companies with smaller operations, and smaller budgets. So, you know, I guess the question for me is how do these companies, utilize or access solutions such as what you're talking about with WICA?
Yeah, I think that's even easier for smaller companies because it's such a small budget, um, that, that, that they would have to, allocate towards this project. It's, it's more difficult to, to get a big CapEx project run or passed through, the different levels of approval than it is. Um, hey, you know, I'm, I'm having this, this project. This is, this is what it's going to do for, for my operation. And this is the ROI.
And I think having, being able to have that conversation, um, at a one on one level. If it's the process engineer reliability or whoever's concerned in improving, I think that that makes a big
Yeah. Well, and I think sometimes they don't even necessarily see the big picture. So I think sometimes, uh, you know, engineers in the plant, plant managers, et cetera, are working to solve one problem. Um, and then they see the opportunity elsewhere, um, and a bigger picture way, like, you know, let me solve my energy problem, but, oh, by the way, it also helps solve a carbon issue, or decarbonize. Do you see that as well?
You see this, opportunities start in one point, but they actually, you can help solve Customers paint the bigger picture for that.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and the, just like I mentioned before, I think it's a matter of having that relationship and that open communication, these projects don't happen overnight. There's discussions, there's ideas that get passed around. And that's how. These kind of projects can, can, uh, can, can be born.
yeah, absolutely. So it's kind of that whole close customer relationship and understanding your customer's needs.
Exactly.
Awesome. Um, what role do you see, sustainability playing is that, is that a big driver of requests, and opportunities that you see with your customers today and in markets, do you see that as a growing area of focus?
Yes. I think we're paying more attention to, to, to not just as a buzzword, but we're paying more attention to some of the projects that we could be. Engaging in that have those those, um, sustainability effects. If it's, um, you know, a product that lasts longer, or if it's a project that will turn into will turn some some decarbonization benefits. Um, I think this discussion is. It's gaining more interest in, into the industry.
Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about, um, leadership. So you've, you've worked across many countries, right? So if I think about, you know, and countries and cultures, right. Romania here to the U S, drilling rigs to chemical plants, what stands out to you in terms of. Effective leadership or even just leadership differences. Anything that, that you see that you'd say, yeah, that's really the difference maker when I cut across industries and companies and countries.
Um, I love that question. I think regardless of what the role that I've had, I've tried to. implement leadership techniques if it was working on a, on a rig, you know, just, just taking, taking the steps to, be self sufficient and know where, which resources I can, can tap into working in the lab. Knowing which projects can improve the work practices that we're having, and that's kind of how the opportunities came to me as well.
Um, I think we all need to implement leadership in our day to day life. And that's what. Um, creates more opportunities for us in our career and our day to, to day life.
So one of the things we talked about before we hit the record button was just about being, um. Yeah. You know, the, being a woman in a very technical business environment, when I think about what WICA is doing with its instrumentation, your customers, particularly going into, well, heck oil rigs, but then also, um, operating plants. What have been the challenges that you see or challenges or opportunities or experiences maybe about being a woman in a very technical market?
So, as I mentioned, I think before you hit the record button, um, I've been on an oil rig where I was the only woman and, um, You sometimes, depending on the culture, I think you can be a torn in somebody's back because they have to give you separate accommodation and, and all that. But I think it's, it's. What you bring to the table, you know, it's, and most of the time you can forget you're a woman. You're a woman.
You're, you're gonna bring certain things to, to, to the table and, and being authentic and being able to, to bring your whole self to work. With your strengths and, and weaknesses. Um, I think it's very important regardless of, of the, the, the job that, that you do. And I've had many opportunities to stand up there and the first impression that I get is, oh, what is she gonna say? But then you know what you're talking about.
And I immediately gain the respect and that's kind of what did it, did it for me. Moving towards to, to my life being young is, is, is okay, but then moving towards your life and having children and having a family and all that can, can come with, with the additional set of set of challenges, but I've kept things separated. It's important to be successful in your career. I think that the CEO of PepsiCo, she says, you cannot have it all.
It's, it's, it's impossible to have it all, but you can have things that you want at different stages of your life. And you're going to give 110 percent in your work sometimes, and you're going to need some help at home. And sometimes you need to put that 110 percent at home and, take a little bit of a break at, at work. And that's very important, um, uh, regardless of, of, of, uh, you know, your gender.
Yeah. I agree with that. I think there's different phases that each of us fall in, um, at different times in our life and different times in our career that required different levels of flexibility, different levels of, you know, as you say, sometimes it's 110%. Sometimes, um, that 110 percent looks different because it's split, not just. Uh, at the office, but it's also split between office and home, um, and elsewhere.
So that's, um, it's critical to know, um, I think that aspect of bringing your whole self to work, being authentic and just being clear at what your own priorities are is critical.
Absolutely.
So what's next for you and for WICA? What should we be looking forward to over the coming year?
Well, I think we're all kind of waiting for the results of elections. We have a lot of projects that are on hold now, so we know what what our strategy is. We know what we we want to see moving forward. We know we're trying to, develop more products that are fitted to to the, uh, the The increase in digitalization trends, from a company perspective.
So we're kind of waiting to see, uh, what happens from, from project perspectives, but we, we have our goals and, and we know where, where we want to be as a, as a company
Yeah. I think that's, uh, I think that's right. I think everyone's waiting over the next month to see the outcomes and, um, and then business will kind of accelerate again. Um, once we get through the election cycle.
hopefully. Yeah.
Awesome. Well, great. Well, Alina, this has been great speaking with you today. I appreciate you joining me on the chemical show.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. And thanks everyone for joining us today. Keep listening, keep following, keep sharing, and we will talk with you again soon.