Regional process specialist located in ExxonMobil's Research and Engineering office in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia supporting Asia-Pacific Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units in a similar capacity to my prior role in IOL. Also responsible for mentoring and training of the local process monitoring engineer group in Malaysia who support global operations at all XOM refineries.

Work at ExxonMobil Research & Engineering’s Canada field office in support of Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units at Imperial’s 3 refineries in Edmonton, Sarnia and Nanticoke. Regarded by peers as having an advanced level of knowledge and understanding of the FCC process for his years of experience. Knowledgeable in the operation and specifics of slide valve and pressure balance controlled units.Planned and Reactive 24/7/365 Manufacturing Support Supports unit turnarounds, unplanned outages, and transient operations during day and night shiftsSupported 15 FCC startups of varying complexity since 2013, including two major unit Solomon turnarounds. All startups completed safely and on the first attemptPossess strong knowledge of the parameters keeping the FCC process safe in transient conditionsInspection lead for FCC hardware technical evaluations during turnarounds. Detailed knowledge of FCC hardware functions and requirements for safe & reliable process operations after start-upUnit Asset Improvement Team lead Provide training on FCC fundamentals to new unit contact engineers; including heat and material balance, pressure balance, catalyst function, optimization handles and constraint bustingSupport manufacturing sites with specialist input on day to day troubleshooting and other activities as required. Also led numerous process investigations to help resolve operating issuesDeveloped numerous process design bases for technology improvements to be installed during future unit turnarounds including proprietary air distributors, regenerator air grids and feed nozzlesExperienced with FCC CatalystStrong understanding of the functions, objectives and capabilities of FCC catalysts and how to evaluate their performance in both pilot plant and commercial settings, delivering realized margin improvements of avg 10MM per year over 3 cat changesExperience and good working relationships with all major FCC catalyst vendors in North America

Responsible for process monitoring, day to day optimization and troubleshooting and longer term development work for Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit.

Responsible for process monitoring, day to day optimization and troubleshooting and longer term development work for Diesel hydrofining, Light Ends distillation and Jet Merox production facilities.

Project scoping/design/development and leadership through management approvals process for capital projects under $1M. Primary focus was on design and scoping of several heat exchanger bundle upgrades utilizing Helical Baffle technology.

Research based Master's Degree awarded. Thesis focusing on polymer reaction engineering, development and characterization of a bio-renewable polymer MEMBL, a cyclic analogue of Methyl Methacrylate.R. A. Cockburn, T. F. L. McKenna, R. A. Hutchinson, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics 2010, 211, 501.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/macp.200900553/abstractR. A. Cockburn, T. F. L. McKenna, R. A. Hutchinson, Macromolecular Reaction Engineering 2011, 5(9-10), 404.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mren.201100017/abstractR. A. Cockburn, R. Siegmann, K. A. Payne, S. Beuermann, T. F. L. McKenna, R. A. Hutchinson, BioMacromolecules 2011, 12(6), 2319.http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bm200400sM.A.Sc Thesis http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/1974/6406/1/Cockburn_Robert_A_201104_MASc.pdf

Worked in a large scale unionized environment (1000+ employees) at INVISTA’s (formerly DuPont Canada’s) Kingston Ontario Nylon manufacturing plant in the Process Engineering (Spinning Technical) Group. Responsible for project leadership and process troubleshooting/support in a 24/7 manufacturing environment. Assisted with day to day operations and business segment support work. Developed and maintained several internal Quality/Business tools.