Ross Markowski was part of the final phases of construction of a gas plant that was experiencing a change of ownership. Ross used the Capstone Project and the myriad changes happening at his site as an opportunity to think through the possibilities of a new organizational design and leadership model to achieve site-wide engagement in proactive maintenance for the upcoming commissioning and operation of the plant. Ross’s presentation summarizes the pros and cons of the existing and proposed organizational structures and touches on some of the challenges of implementation.Whether you are in oil/gas, manufacturing, forestry or another industry, you will find the lessons learned through Ross Markowski’s Capstone Project applicable to most situations where changes are occurring, work still needs to planned and executed and people are your most important resource in getting the work done.
At the young age of 7, Ross Markowski’s father gave him an old 1952 GMC truck that had been sitting around the farm for numerous years. After a couple of years of mechanical tinkering, he had it running fairly smoothly and he would drive it around the farm. And so began Ross’s lifelong passion for repairing and maintaining equipment.
Of course, growing up on a farm provided a young lad with endless opportunities to hone his mechanical skills. The small physique of a farm boy gave him an advantage for those repair jobs where big and burly dad just couldn’t squeeze in such as between the transmission and engine of a tractor or laying under the grain truck working on the clutch. And, what about those jobs where an extra body or set of hands were needed such as holding a snipe and a 36 inch pipe wrench while father used the front end loader tractor to break a shaft free on the breaking disc. The farm provided the mechanical foundation for Ross but it was eventually time for him to head out into the big world to pursuing his career and become established. After completing high school, Ross left the farm and started his heavy duty mechanical Apprenticeship on Mack trucks and Bosch fuel systems in Edmonton. During his third year into his heavy duty apprenticeship, he was conversing about wages with some fellas who worked in oil and gas industry, and he soon followed suit and went to work in the petroleum industry. He worked for a couple service companies, Cooper Energy and Finning Power Systems, commissioning and overhauling natural gas compression packages. He then found employment as a Mechanical lead with an upstream gas company, Talisman Energy, in the Monkman Field in Northern BC. However, you can take the boy from the farm but you can never remove the farm from the boy and after 20 years, Ross decided that he wanted to move back to the farm and be closer to his family. He moved back to his childhood farm in the Athabasca area and found work with EnCana at Pelican Lake, again as a Mechanical lead. He worked for EnCana / Enbridge on the Cabin Project for two years in northern BC as a Maintenance Lead and for Brion Energy as a Maintenance Lead on their Mackay Project. Ross is currently working for Plains Midstream Canada as a District Maintenance Manager in the NW District which includes the Fort Saskatchewan Fractionation Plant and the Rainbow crude line.
Ross has a wonderful and supportive wife with whom he has a 19 year old daughter and a 16 year old boy.
