John Gerhart has worked for over 30 years as an operator of highly hazardous processes at the DuPont Chambers Works in Deepwater, New Jersey. He was also the leader of the company-wide Operator Network, called I-24, which stood for Improved 24 Hours Operations. The I-24 network was sponsored by the 15 member corporate operations leadership team, and worked on all aspects of how to improve operations in DuPont’s US facilities: safety and environmental leadership, shift communications, DCS training, Control systems, PSM implementation, troubleshooting, etc. The team had over 60 operators involved from over 20 plant sites. The group met virtually numerous times during the year to work on improvement projects, and met yearly face-to-face with the DuPont CEO. The I-24 team would give the CEO unfiltered feedback about what was going on, both good and bad, within the company’s US operations, and this information was used, in many instances, in later discussions with the corporate officers. Over the course of his career he has held the following positions; DCS systems manager, area training coordinator, SAP operation implementer, production manager, and a member/auditor of the Phosgene Highly Toxic Material (HTM) corporate committee and project leader. John is Six Sigma Green Belt certified.
John has worked with many young chemical engineers over the years, and he has seen a lot – from the issues of taking short-cuts, to start-ups, shutdowns, issues between shifts, and also how to navigate serious ethical lapses. John has retired from active service. After retirement, John started his own consulting business geared toward process control, safety management, operation training and support.