At Monument, one of our favorite questions to ask is, “What’s next?”

In an industry known for its love of stability, we enjoy pushing past barriers to seize opportunities in new markets and technologies – so that our customers, in turn, can deliver surprising innovations to the customers they serve.

“Our pipeline is constantly filled with new projects that will expand our capabilities, partnerships, and growth possibilities beyond our baseline business,” said Paul Raymond, CEO. “It’s part of our culture to explore the pros of any new opportunity. There will always be challenges and rationale to NOT try something, but when you focus on the strategic potential of an opportunity, it’s much easier to see the value in overcoming challenges – no matter how large they may be.”

And speaking of “large” opportunities, Monument recently purchased a 24-acre manufacturing site located right next to our Houston plant. Previously owned by TechnipFMC (DUCO), a manufacturer of subsea umbilical cables to support offshore activities, the property contains warehouse and office space, barge access to the Houston Ship Channel, and of course, convenient access to our Houston site.

“With this new property, we see countless opportunities for growth, such as dedicated production for specialty and other high purity products, new technologies, and other strategic initiatives,” said Paul. “The possibilities are endless – and very exciting.”

So, how do we choose and pursue new opportunities?

Even though we encourage creativity in all aspects of new opportunity development, we rally around common principles to choose and pursue the best projects. Here are some of those guiding principles – for inspiration in your own growth plans, as well as insights into what it’s like to work with the Monument team on new opportunities…

1. Do It Right

No matter how dazzling a new opportunity may be, we don’t make a move until we are sure we can pursue it while staying true to our core commitments to safety, the environment, product stewardship, and quality.

“Because of how many new opportunities we tackle, we definitely get plenty of practice in working as a team on careful planning and execution,” said Adam Pingel, Vice President, Global Manufacturing. “We’re talking about safety and quality in the earliest conversations of a new project.”

“Because of how often our team handles change, we’re always thinking about environmental, health, safety, and security (EHS&S) improvements in new ways,” said Narayan Dave, Global Environmental Leader. “This not only keeps us on our toes, but also translates into fresh EHS&S ideas that we can leverage across projects and sites.”

And for Monument, continuous improvement is always the goal, especially when it comes to our core commitments.

“That’s why we’re so proud of our 2020 SOCMA awards – including the Gold Performance Improvement award for the Monument Houston site,” said Narayan. “Those awards are all about continuous improvement – and from our most challenging projects to our daily operations, we’re always looking for ways to drive progress in how we take care of our customers, our communities, and each other."

2. Focus on Customer Needs

We know our customers are continually seeking ways to solve their own problems – so we make sure we are talking to our customers frequently. And more importantly, we listen. We want to know what they value, what their pain points are, and what’s on their wish list. Those conversations often lead to opportunities to expand our services and our relationships.

“As an example, one of our customers wanted to expand their capabilities into the lubricant space,” said Adam. “We worked closely with them to create a significant pilot plant, which has allowed our customer to launch an entire generation of new and enhanced product lines – sparking profitable growth for all parties.”

“We make frequent touchpoints with our customers a priority – something we know isn’t always a given in the industry,” said Don Phillips, Vice President, Custom Manufacturing. “But those conversations are the key to creating opportunities – for us and our customers – that we have yet to imagine.”

3. Take on the Big Challenge

The bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity. We know that might sound like a quote for a dorm room poster, but it’s also a mindset that has grown our reputation for fearless flexibility – and led to our most incredible wins as a team.

“Our Bayport, Texas plant, for instance, has been designed to handle some of the toughest amine streams – which many of our competitors cannot handle,” said Adam. “We’ve engineered our equipment and processes to handle specific and challenging chemistries. This has allowed us to take on demanding processes, such as those that require specialized metallurgy, high-pressure hydrogenations in an agitated catalyzed slurry.”

The Monument team has also expanded operations in Houston to manufacture polysulfide – a whole new chemistry for the team. And we’ve expanded operations in Belgium to produce more high-quality THF, which is in high demand in several industries.

“All of these projects seemed overwhelming at the start,” said Adam. “But we’re a team that embraces that stretch and knows that relentless preparation and a willingness to solve puzzle after puzzle will eventually push the boulder up a mountain we know is worth climbing – because we’ve done it many times before!"

4. Grow Your Canvas

Sometimes, the challenges we want to take on – particularly those in the future – require a bigger “canvas.” This might mean hiring team members with certain expertise, supporting our existing team members with talent and skill enhancement, purchasing new equipment, or – as was recently the case in Houston with the acquisition of a new site – growing our actual footprint.

“We’re always thinking ten steps ahead when it comes to potential opportunities on the horizon – and asking ourselves if we have all the right resources in place to move on the right projects and the right time,” said Adam. “So, when we see gaps, we make it a priority to close them.”

As an example, because the Monument Houston team has been working on an impressive range of growth projects and expansions, we saw a fantastic opportunity in purchasing the neighboring property.

“This new site will grant us an even bigger canvas to connect dots, seize new opportunities, and grow our business and ability to serve our customers,” said Paul.

5. Collaboration is Key

The old adage, "two heads are better than one" has been around for centuries with good reason. More effective problem-solving happens when you combine resources in talent, experience, and infrastructure. Collaboration allows teams to talk problems out and debate potential solutions, so that project bumps are more easily overcome and even anticipated, so they never happen in the first place!

At Monument, collaboration is baked into our process; it’s not just a tactic or last resort when we hit a roadblock. And we not only collaborate internally across teams, sites, and functions, we also collaborate with our customers.

“The benefits of customer collaboration would (and have) filled books, but we’ve learned that Monument’s approach in this space is still pretty unique,” said Don. “Let’s face it, we’re tackling some huge challenges with our customers, and close collaboration allows us to more easily build alignment on what we’re trying to accomplish. Collaboration also leads to an enhanced ability to fine-tune the process every step of the way – minimizing surprises and allowing us to hit the mark on each project milestone.”

And this, in turn, allows us to move on to our next challenge!

So, to all of our amazing customers…What’s next on your wish list, and how can we help?