FOCUS Magazine

Clause Eight: Measurement, Analysis and Improvement Throughout the ISO 9001 standard, planning has been an underlying theme, if not a direct requirement.  Clause 8 is yet another set of requirements addressing planning–planning for both conformity and improvement of processes, products, and the entire management system.  Clause 8 takes into consideration and addresses the use of [...]

“Our facility is regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA), Homeland Security Department, and the United States Coast Guard. As such, we are required to perform quarterly security drills and evacuations. This morning, your driver [Merrick Decuir] noticed a suspicious package at the truck rack and immediately notified a ConocoPhillips employee. Reporting suspicious activity [...]

Ergon Trucking’s latest innovation is a traveling training trailer designed to give drivers the inside scoop on the equipment they operate. The training trailer features four modules that offer a cross-section look at the valves, pumps, mechanical systems, and safety features of the rigs. Built using actual equipment, the modules allow drivers to clearly see [...]

Ergon Trucking, Inc. specializes in the transport of products with rigorous handling requirements, critical delivery timing, and crucial safety precautions. Those products include crude oil, lube oils, asphalt, and emulsions, as well as specialty oils, caustics, and chemicals. From its headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi, Ergon Trucking serves the 48 continental states and Canada. A fleet [...]

What’s new?  Why? Oil refineries such as Lion Oil Company (LOC) located in El Dorado, Arkansas, Ergon Refining, Inc., (ERI) in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Ergon – West Virginia, Inc. (EWV) in Newell, West Virginia, must continually improve their processes to stay competitive in the manufacturing market.  Accepting the status quo in operations and maintenance practices [...]

William Edwards Deming said that “Quality is everyone’s responsibility.” Dr. Deming would know. As America’s “quality improvement legend” in statistical process control and business leadership principles, Deming was the U.S. expert sent to facilitate reconstruction of Japan after World War II, and the man for whom Japan’s “Deming Prize,” the highest national honor awarded for [...]

Where we were working was hot, dirty, and the air around us smelled bad. We had traveled thousands of miles to do some work projects, and on this day we were painting the back of a classroom building at a school for the deaf. The only people who would ever see this part of the [...]

In 1986, Ergon Refining, Inc, (ERI) entered the naphthenic base oil market (lubricating oils in manufacturing for moving parts, cooling, cleaning, corrosion control, etc., or “lube”) as the “new kids on the block.” We just completed the home stretch of the largest expansion in ERI’s 31 year history. Ergon’s investment of more than $240 million [...]

Dear Readers, Welcome to our autumn edition of FOCUS. It’s been a busy summer at Ergon. Aside from the addition of the newly leased asphalt facilities, the current recession has meant that we must place even more emphasis on customer service, product quality, and the efficiency of our services in order to retain existing customers [...]