Automation Control Engineer

Job Summary

CITGO Petroleum Corporation seeks an Automation Control Engineer to work in Westlake, LA. The position involves performing daily checks of regulatory and Advanced Process Control (APC) utilization, discussing control performance with console operators, reactivating dropped controlled and manipulated variables, identifying poorly performing regulatory loops, making tuning adjustments, and providing operator support on control and alarm management issues.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or Chemical Engineering
• Experience:
  • 3 years of progressively responsible experience in each of the following areas: Advanced Process Control (APC), regulatory control systems, and alarm management systems.
  • Use of data systems to monitor process unit performance, such as Distributed Control Systems (DCS), Plant Information Systems (PI), or Process History Databases (PHD).
  • APC application, model development, and maintenance, including development and upkeep of calculations, inferentials, and process control applications.
  • Project management through Front End Loading (FEL), including scheduling and cost control.
  • Maintenance and improvement of Human Machine Interface (HMI) consoles.
  • Monitoring and maintaining chemometric models derived from spectroscopic analyses for use in product quality control.
  • Monitoring and troubleshooting alarm management applications.
  • Preparation and reporting of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
  • Training personnel in the use of process control applications and auditing application performance.

Job Duties

• Perform daily checks of regulatory and Advanced Process Control (APC) utilization, discuss control performance with console operators, reactivate dropped controlled and manipulated variables, identify poorly performing regulatory loops, make tuning adjustments, and provide operator support on control and alarm management issues.
• Prepare weekly work activity reports, including APC utilization reporting and correction, identification of poor performing control loops, and monitoring process unit performance using data from the Distributed Control System (DCS), Plant Information System (PI), and Process History Database (PHD).
• Develop new and maintain existing supporting calculations, inferentials, and applications.
• Lead or assist with rework efforts for new APC development.
• Investigate opportunities and prepare justifications for new regulatory and APC applications.
• Collaborate with Operations and the Operations Engineering Department (OED) in control scheme development, conduct process testing, develop models and strategies, implement and maintain control applications, train Console Operators, audit application performance, and communicate benefits gained.
• Maintain and support existing High Performance Human-Machine Interface (HPHMI) console graphics.
• Ensure operator interfaces add value to minimize unit upsets, monitor graphic performance for system load issues, and develop new schematics as needed.
• Monitoring and maintaining chemometric models derived from spectroscopic analyses for use in product quality control.
• Coordinate or perform hardware/software maintenance, conduct model reviews and updates, and develop new models when needed.
• Perform Front End Loading (FEL) activities for capital APC projects and manage approved projects, including scheduling, cost control, participation in failure analysis, incident investigations, and other technical teams as required.