"A passion for operational excellence"

Barry Wilson remembers his years as a rookie engineer in Exxon’s New Jersey refinery as “the really fun years.” “My passion was to get my hands dirty working on real things,” he says. “Every day there were operating and engineering challenges, long days, late nights and weekends working to make an ever increasing volume of products as efficiently as possible. And every day I went home feeling tired but feeling that I had made a difference.”

This passion for operations remained with Barry throughout his 35-year career with Exxon. In the late ‘70s, he moved from New Jersey to Texas, where he managed all the new capital investment projects at Exxon's largest refinery in Baytown. From there, he served in a number of capacities, which broadened his understanding of the business: assistant to the Exxon USA Management Committee; fuels marketing business analysis manager; lubes business analysis; and, in the early ‘90s it was back to operations, as manager of Exxon’s lubricant blending and packaging plants in the U.S.  “We faced numerous EHS challenges in the lube plants,” Barry says, “because these were small standalone plants scattered throughout the country, and each had its own unique EHS issues. Several lube plant acquisitions and divestitures during this period introduced him to due diligence and the hurdles thrown in the path by lawyers!”

During Barry's tenure in the lubes business, he was responsible for developing and implementing Exxon’s Operations Integrity framework at all of the lubricants plants.  “We recognized that if Exxon were going to operate manufacturing facilities, we were going to execute according to the highest standards,” he says. “The standards were not clearly defined when I got there.  So, we were challenged to develop all of the detailed standards, practices and systems for operations integrity.”  Barry is proud of what he helped create by setting the bar high.

After Exxon’s merger with Mobil, Barry moved over into the computing and systems world, where he was responsible for change management and training associated with implementation of a new $500 million dollar global chemicals SAP system.  Barry says, “it was my job to train 10,000 employees on the new computing system and associated work processes.  Barry capitalized on this IT experience to become Exxon’s Global Refining/Chemicals Manufacturing Training Manager.  This encompassed nearly 50 plants worldwide and 25000 employees.  Barry understands that one of the cornerstones of operations excellence is to develop all the personnel in an organization through a comprehensive training program, which ensures the workforce has achieved the skills and competencies to enable them to perform at very high levels of excellence.  He says, "this is a key element for manufacturing businesses to successfully compete in today's global market."

When not helping Pilko clients improve their operational excellence, Barry enjoys time with his wife, their two grown children and four grandchildren, plus playing golf, travel, gardening and occasional sailing.