Whether it was being closer than was comfortable to a volcano at a geothermal facility in the Philippines, or on an oil platform in Alaska after a blowout, or visiting Kazakhstan with its frigid weather and straight-faced guards reminiscent of the former Soviet regime, Paul Crossman did what any other engineering consultant would do in his position - he went, he saw, he evaluated and when called for, he fixed.

As head of Unocal's Automation Group, based in Bakersfield, California, he was responsible for designing and installing automation systems for Unocal's various facilities and evaluating equipment when required.

Paul created the group back in 1978, after working his way up through the ranks to the position of engineering consultant in Unocal's Engineering Group. He did this without a degree in engineering - or any kind of degree, for that matter. His success can be attributed to a natural ability to solve problems, and incredible background of hands-on experience. He discovered his affinity for electronics, while working at a company that repaired railroad and mobile radios for the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, when he was attending Santa Maria High School.

Several years later, first as an airman and later as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, he was given extensive formal training for maintaining ground support equipment at bases in Lackland, Texas, and Chanute, Illinois, and served on ground crews that serviced equipment at an air defense command facility in Oxnard, California, and at an airbase in Saigon, Viet Nam. Paul also accumulated 60 credits in electronics and computer science when he attended Allan Hancock Junior College in the late 1960's and Bakersfield Junior College in the 1970¼s and 1980's.

His career at Unocal began in 1966, several months after his release from the Air Force. With the service behind him, Paul was readjusting to civilian life with his wife, Diane; son, David, age 3; and newly born infant son, Michael.

At first, he resisted applying for work at Unocal, one of the larger employers in the area. Both his grandfather, James and father, Kenneth, had been long-time employees of the oil company, and he wanted to do something different. His grandfather worked in drilling for Unocal when it was still known as Union Oil of California and horses were still being used to pull equipment. His father was also involved in drilling oil for the company prior to World War II, before Unocal sold off its drilling business. He eventually became an industrial engine mechanic at the company.

But, with jobs scarce and a family to support, Paul finally acquiesced and began working at Unocal as a roustabout - someone who performs the tasks that nobody else wants to do. This was followed by a stint as a utility man, which involves doing whatever jobs need to be filled at the time. It was at this point that Paul realized this was not the way he wanted to make a living, so he enrolled in junior college. That classroom exposure and his hard work began paying off by 1976, when Unocal promoted him to production foreman in charge of 20 people. Two years later, he was again promoted, this time to the position of engineering advisor in the Engineering Group. In the final analysis, it was not a degree that pushed Paul up the ladder at Unocal. It was his ingenuity and ability to translate an idea into a functioning system. And, he proved this over and over again.

During his tenure in the Automation Group, Paul and his group of engineers came up with some innovative, cutting-edge solutions to automation problems faced by the oil company.

As a consultant to the project engineer for Unocal's Midway Sunset water plant near, Taft, Calif., he designed the plant's process control system. The system consisted of flow control, valve sequencing, motor control and tank level.

He and his team designed and installed a SCADA system in central Calif., which stretched from the foot of the Grapevine to Los Banos, about 200 miles. The system was linked by microwave, radio and wire line and eventually collected 2,000 data points. It is still operated today by torch.

On an assignment in Alaska, Paul's job was to assess the damage to the electrical systems and to move the water flood equipment, after a blowout on the Greyling Platform in the Cook Inlet. There had been well failure and platform damage, but no environmental damage. The platform, which had 21 gas turbines, was upgraded with modern automation systems. It was converted from primary relay logic to PLC. Three Saturn turbines were replaced with a single Centaur for water injection at 4,000 hp. A new Centaur gas compressor was also added.

In other projects, he and his team have designed a totally automated, unmanned, process system for a hot water flood in the McKittrick Field, allowing hot water heated by a steam generator to be injected into the oil producing zone to reduce oil viscosity and wash the oil baring sands, thus forcing the oil into the well bore; designed process control systems for two 6MW cogeneration facilities - Wellport Co-Generation and Dome Co-Generation - which included the installation of two Solar T4500's at Dome and a Solar Centaur "H" at Wellport; created the control program and remote data gathering and command radio system for the Merril Avenue Gas Field; developed an automated process control system for a field vapor recovery compressor system; redesigned the Dome Co-Generation Water Plant control system and operator interface to a 100 percent computer based system in order to improve plant efficiency; developed a process control system for the diatomite wells‚a system now under patent by Unocal; and designed and programmed a bulk cement truck unloading system.

In 1996, after nearly 20 years in the Automation Group and close to 30 years with the company itself, Paul was forced to make a rather unpleasant decision. Unocal had sold off its sites in California to Tosco. He could either accept a position at Unocal's office in Sugar Land, Texas, or retire early and lose some of his retirement benefits. He and Diane didn't want to leave California. They both had been born and raised there. They had attended high school together and raised their family in California. On the other hand, Paul did not intend to lose any of his retirement benefits. He had worked too many hours for too many years to let that happen.

As it was, he didn't spend that much time in Texas. He was sent to various job sites stretching from Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, and Michigan to Thailand and the Philippines. He is especially proud of the UHF multiple repeater radio system he designed for an oil field and gas processing plant in Mobile, Alabama. The system's mobile radio interconnected communications with the County's emergency services.

Paul ended up working on this project for six months. Following a recent hurricane down there, he received a call to say that the system worked like a charm. His consulting work with Philippines Power Co. was also an experience Paul won't soon forget. On assignment there several times, he worked on the utility's geothermal, telemetry and SCADA systems. "To access geothermal power, they actually drilled into the side of the volcano," explained Paul with awed expression on his face.

As part of a peer review group, he was also sent to Thailand to evaluate a new offshore operation. Paul's advice continued to be sought by Unocal even after his retirement from the company in 1997, when he was asked him to evaluate some in place steam power generation equipment in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic bordering the Caspian Sea. It was recommended that Unocal not invest in this equipment.

Despite his busy schedule over the years, Paul has found time to pursue certain interests. He is an avid HAM radio operator, a remnant from his job repairing HAM and railroad radios in high school, and has been a member of the American Amateur Radio League for 30 years. Photography is another hobby. "I mostly take vacation photos," said Paul. Fishing and camping also rank amongst his favorite pastimes. "I attempt to fly fish," he joked, adding that Diane is a pretty good fisherman. Over the years, Paul and Diane have traveled with their trailer from coast to coast and border to border.

As the president of PC-IC, Paul is not only being given a chance to do what he loves, but to choose the people he works with. "Being a one man company, you have to have a lot of alliances. And, you have to trust the people you work with." He is currently working on a project in Las Vegas, Nevada, for Cal Nev. In conjunction with Adair Engineering, he is upgrading the fuel loading automation. But, he is not alone in this business venture. Diane, his wife of 38 years, does the bookkeeping for PC-IC - that is when she is not teaching her fifth grade class at Buttonwillow Elementary School. According to Paul, his wife is a true success story. After the children were grown, Diane entered the University of California at Bakersfield as a freshman. She graduated from the teaching program with honors.

Paul speaks of his wife in glowing terms. His pride in her is evident. He and Diane met 41 years ago as classmates in Santa Maria High School. They eloped to Las Vegas shortly after high school graduation in 1961, and were married on October 24th, nine days after Paul's 19th birthday.

When he's not exploring the countryside with Diane or glued to his HAM radio, Paul devotes his time to industry organizations including the Central California Association of Power Producers (CAPP) and the Southern San Joaquin Valley Section of the ISA. He was part of the committee that wrote the constitution for CAPP, and served as the chapter's vice president and treasurer. He has also been a past president, several times over, for the ISA's Southern San Joaquin Valley Section, a position in which his youngest son, Mike, has also served.

Over the years, Paul has shared his knowledge and experience with others in the industry through training classes on automation computer programming and as a guest speaker at industry meetings and events. Several years ago, he spoke at some Allen Bradley Industrial Roundtables about automation and telemetry for the oil industry. And, when he addressed engineering students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he discussed automation and telemetry as it relates to water and irrigation.

This article was used with permission of Woodward Communications, Inc. © 2002