chemical operator

maintenance electrician

laboratory technician

controls engineer

SABIC Innovative Plastics

The typical day at SABIC involved early morning daily production meeting, maintenance scheduling review, and review of any issues that occurred that previous night during nigh shift. Depending on the day I would then have meetings set up for various projects I was working on either with SABIC employees or off site vendors, or I would work on trouble shooting my assignments and working with operations and maintenance teams to come of with the most effective solution. If I was graced with some free time I would walk around the plant inspecting systems I was not as familiar with to have a better understanding of them. 

From my experience I learned about with a production/process engineer did day in and day out. I was able to work on projects ranging from a few thousand to multimillion dollar projects. I learned about process equipment including relief valves, pumps, reactors, heat exchangers, and various other pieces of equipment on site. I learned that the maintenance and operations teams are the people that run the plant and having a good relationship with them can make your job a lot easier.

Our management was very informative and worked with us on becoming better process engineers by looking at the big picture of projects and scopes of work, effectively working with others of multiple different personality types, and coming up with solutions that safely improve the facility.

Our co-workers came in a variety of different personality and class types. It was a great way to learn to work with a wide range of people and also learned that these people can make my job a lot easier. This was one of the most valuable experiences.

The hardest part of the job was dealing with maintenance scheduling that would put some of my projects behind schedule. This was a good way for me to learn to work with the scheduler to make sure all of my projects were not slipping under the rug and being installed in a timely manner.

My most enjoyable part was actually have big time responsibility and professionals depending on my knowledge of projects to get very expensive projects completed. I enjoyed the pressure and learned a great deal from it.

Every day was an array of testing that I had to run from samples that came in hot off the production line. The most common test was running melt viscosities on extrusion plastometers and using FtIR and pulse NMR to quantify contents of sample. Occasionally helped supervisor with audit information and systems data input as well as performed repeat tests on customer complaint material. There was occasionally a bit of downtime if there were problems in the production team, but for the most part it was a busy day with no sitting going from test to test. Management was very friendly and good people you could get along with and carry a conversation with. Coworkers were very helpful when any sort of problem arose in the work day and were very friendly to speak with. The hardest part of the job was having to drive an hour to and an hour back from work. This added up to 10 hours per week at least. The people were the most enjoyable part of the job. I learned from this job that it doesn't matter how good or high paying a job is if you can't get along with your co workers. I was lucky to have very friendly coworkers and managers.

Sabic changes pay scales and company policies to suit their needs whenever they wish. No respect for legacy workers at all. They literally just changed the pay scale and all legacy workers will lose 12,600 dollars a year. They also froze legacy workers pensions. Sabic will force you to work OT as well due to an ongoing shortage of workers. Terrible work/life balance. Sabic in Ottawa Illinois still has the 21 day swing shifts. You only get one weekend off a month so you miss out on family and friends activities all the time. You literally work 7 days in a row, but it does not count as 7 days in a row because how the “work week” starts. If a good job comes open the boss might put a freeze on your building due to limited staffing and no can not put in for the job. Sabics policies are so grey so they can flip flop whichever way they wish. I was excited when I started here, now many of us are actively seeking new employment unfortunately. It makes me realize why industries such as Sabic needs to have a union to protect workers rights and to hold Sabic to their promises and commitments. Moral is at an all time low here, sad to see what has happened but they just seem to literally not care. Ask HR questions before you commit to Sabic. Best of luck!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people you work with every day are great people. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The management is  poor. Zero communication between managers and employees. Last minute decisions making that really screws with your work/home life. You are basically a slave to the place. There is so much more that adds to such a poor work life and stress. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is stressful because you don’t know what’s going on with the very poor communication. They push “safety” is first but no one follows it. If it’s not management’s decision it doesn’t get done. They basically turn their noses up to the employees and only worry about themselves. They say one thing to make you happy but then do something else that they want. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Days aren’t that bad. They are long. Day shift you are always looking over your back to see if management is around. If they are around then some poor decisions are about to be made.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Long break, decent benefits, frequent breaks 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Employee clicks, substandard training methods, worn out equipment, favoritism, safety issues, higher probability of getting cancer due to Chemical exposure, mostly airborne vapor inhalation exposures.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work culture Varys depends on what part of manufacturing you end up in.
Environment is loud, hot in summer cold in winter, must work outside during inclement weather depending what department you end up at.
Employees and managers end up being grouchy because of the dynamics of what happens to the mind and body because of the effects of working shift work.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive 1/2 early prior to punching in, get dressed out in Safety FR Clothing which  is excessively hot in summer time.
Checking in with outgoing operators to see if there’s any problems before they leave for the day, ect…

SABIC's manufacturing site in Selkirk, NY is extremely safety focused. The site's culture is centered on preventing injury and looking out for one another on the job - there really is a strong feeling of community here and a sense that you are valued as person outside of your role in the business. Management is doing its best to attract & retain talent at all levels - the number of retirements in the next 10 years from operators to principal engineers is significant and SABIC is forward facing in that they want to invest in the next generation. They promote advancement up the "technical ladder" as well as the more familiar "management path". Excellent place to gain experience and potentially stay long-term.

Good environment for co-op students to learn about the industry. Heavy industrial environment with many hazards to be aware of (e.g. chemical, mechanical, electrical, heights, etc.); as a result the site placed a strong emphasis on continuous safety training and reminders.  The site is 30 years old and aging in some places but still manages to be productive thanks to a veteran work force, and their safety record was impressive (in 30 years of operation, I only heard of a single life-changing injury).  Nearly every person I worked with was friendly and willing to help with my own projects, especially if the project impacted the operation of the unit as a whole.

Sabic Innocative Plastics does a phenomenal job at making each employee feel like they are part of a family. The Work/Life balance is one of the most positive aspects of the culture at Sabic. Team building events, sports, social gatherings, and more are organized and encouraged on a weekly basis.

In the plant, everyone is hard driven to complete projects in a high quality manner. And even higher priority than project deliverables is individual safety. Weekly safety meetings are conducted to reinforce the notion that there are dangers associated with working in a chemical plant.

Between the positive cultural attitude, strive for individual and plant safety, and expectation of high quality output, Sabic is a very successful and desirable company to be a part of.

Go by grade system, if you start out as a B it takes a long time to get offered a C job. Basically if you like your job as a B you are forced to leave it if you want more $. Then you are stuck in that C spot for at least 5 years, which is terrible if you hate it. No training, make rules up as they go, don’t follow procedures unless it’s in their favor against an employee, preach a lot about safety but don’t follow what they say, benefits are good, accrue 10 hours a month vaca with option to borrow up to 80hrs from day 1, if given the choice to do again I would not choose to work here and would have kept my other job, even though pay is better. Sometimes money isn’t worth what you go through to get it, this is one of those times. 

A typical day at work involved a morning call with my boss to discuss what we needed to do for the day. Then I would work on contacting owners of applications to test in a virtual environment with the company's new global image for laptops and desktops. There would usually be a meeting during the day with the global team that were working on other aspects of the project. The hardest part of the job was having my boss in a different location, however I learned to coordinate with him via phone, email, and the office instant messaging system. The best part of the job was working across different functions of the company which gave me a broader understanding of the company as a whole.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Chemical operator 1 salary reported	$25.00 per hour
Maintenance electrician 1 salary reported	$27.89 per hour
Laboratory technician 1 salary reported	$18.35 per hour
Controls engineer 1 salary reported	$102,500 per year

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