Muhammad Yousaf

Senior engineering leader for a specialty chemical manufacturing site, responsible for engineering, process safety, compliance, and capital delivery.
Lead and manage 22 multi-disciplined engineers (10 direct reports) covering mechanical, electrical, process and process safety.
Accountable for health, safety, and engineering compliance, ensuring alignment with UK legislation requirements.
Own and deliver the annual CAPEX programme (~£10m) using internal teams and third-party EPC contractors.
Developed and implemented a robust Management of Change (MoC) system ensuring safe, compliant plant modifications.
Lead Process Risk Assessment (PRA) programme and ensure timely close-out of actions against KPIs.
Work closely with maintenance leadership to drive asset integrity, reliability, and shutdown execution.
Provide engineering governance for NEC contracts, schedules, costs, quality, and EHS performance.
Champion a strong safety culture, promoting proactive risk identification and continuous improvement.

Delivered engineering leadership across petrochemical, oil & gas, and chemical manufacturing projects.
Managed FEED, operability reviews, and major modification projects for high-hazard installations.
Supported cost estimation, planning, and execution of capital projects.
Undertook process improvement and project management role at different chemical, oil and gas processing sites, UK. As a client’s engineer of choice I delivered results on time as a part of major capital projects. Key projects and achievements include:
I carried out debottlenecking study, FEED followed by detailed design and commissioning of the Hydrogenation plant using DeltaV system at Croda to increase production capacity. Participated in the HAZOP study as a design and project engineer. Key responsibilities were to carry out material and energy balance, P&ID development, equipment specification, cooling tower optimisation, line sizing, pressure relieve calculation and project management. I managed the Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) activities for the entire project. After successful completion of the project the production capacity of Hydrogenation Plant increased by 30%.

I carried out feasibility study and detailed design to modify the reactor operation to operate high pressure batches (operating at 10 barg, previously 7 barg) in order to reduce the batch cycle time for amides production from erucic acid. I was responsible for engineering design, processing each change using the Croda Management of Change (MOC) process and commissioning of the plant using DCS system. The successful implementation of the project has reduced the batch cycle time from 14 hrs to 10 hrs and ultimately has increased the plant production capacity.

I carried out FEED and detailed design to install new measuring system, loading arm, and automated valve system for road tanker loading facility at Croda. I was responsible for all process and project engineering activities which include P&ID development, equipment specification, line sizing, participate in HAZOP study and project management for the entire project. The installation of new road tanker loading system resolved the issues of undercharging and overcharging of the tankers and eliminated loss of containment issues.

Member of site Senior Leadership Team, supporting business delivery and customer commitments.
Managed process and process safety engineers supporting operations, MoC, shutdowns, and capital projects.
Contributed to the 5-year site strategy, aligned to corporate innovation and sustainability goals.
Ensured SHEQ critical actions were delivered on time to maintain site performance and compliance.

Led process and process safety engineering teams on site. Managed £5m CAPEX portfolio, improving reliability, throughput, and asset condition.
Engineering lead on automated reactor and ammonia storage project, including HAZOP, commissioning, and start-up.
Delivered major improvement projects including:
£3.5m new centralised cooling towers upgrade
Hydrogenation plant debottlenecking (+30% capacity increase)
Installation of Biomass boiler project (~60% CO₂ reduction)
Accountable for Pressure Relief compliance and process safety investigations (RCA, PRR, ECFA).
Developed site decarbonisation roadmap supporting long-term sustainability.
Carried out an appraisal study for improving cooling towers performance and associated processes on site as a part of continuous plant improvement project. The appraisal study identified a number of improvement projects to resolve a persistent production problems associated with the cooling system. The report was taken very well by the management and I led the design and installation of identified projects as part of the site CAPEX programme.

I have worked on number of different projects during my work at Cofley Fabricom. Key responsibilities and accomplishments include:
Worked on FEED study and detailed design, involving the design work for debottlenecking of a continuous polymer production plant of Nippon Gohsei in UK.
Developed pressure drop calculations, line sizing, pump sizing, relief valve calculation as per API 520, control valve sizing, equipment specification and data sheets, P&ID review and development. Process modelling, design and simulation using ASPEN HYSYS software.
I carried out vent analysis study for BP offshore gas plants (Dimlington and Cleeton). In this blowdown and relief study the model was developed using Aspen Flare System Analyser.
Worked on FEED study for PDVSA refinery, involving the design work for metals extraction from the metal rich ash by employing a sequence of hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes to extract vanadium, molybdenum and nickel.
Worked on the modification project for Interconnector UK to carry out a design review of the operability, the availability and maintenance of gas pipeline between UK and Belgium. The work involved blowdown calculations, heat and mass balance, process engineering calculations and development of P&IDs. Hands on experience of using PEL software.
Carried out consequence analysis study related to a project at BP chemical plant in UK and Petrom Gas Processing plant by using a consequence modelling software Cirrus.
Carried out an Appraisal Study for Altona Energy to determine the feasibility of a bioethanol plant. The plant would produce bioethanol fuel from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
Carried out cost estimate for various projects, provide support with bids by preparing list of deliverables and CTRs (cost, time & resources).

Successfully completed dispersion modelling on Brotherton Esseco’s Sulphur Burning system by using dispersion modelling software ADMS 5.
Calculated annual Dawes Lane and Appleby Coke oven by-product emissions at TATA Steel of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
Carried out LOPA/SIL assessment for an oil producing company IGas Ltd and PALL.
Carried out a feasibility study to treat the process vent that carries the VOC vapours from manufacturing vessels in the Latex plant at Synthomer. I investigated abatement technologies and presented options and “order of magnitude” costs that offer mean off-site emission concentrations below the consent air quality standard.
Successfully completed Hazardous Area Assessment for several oil & gas well sites of IGas Ltd in accordance with 3rd edition of the Energy Institute publication ‘Area Classification Code for Installations Handling Flammable Fluids’ (IP15) 2005.

As a team leader of production team comprising 4 operators I was responsible for troubleshooting, optimisation and continuous improvement of a continuous and batch polymer plant. As a hybrid role the achievements included:
Adhered to strict Health and Safety Executive (HSE) standards, achieved high operation efficiencies and exceeded the target annual production.
Calculated and reported plant efficiencies and was also responsible for highlighting areas to improve specific consumptions of raw materials and utilities.
Lead the execution of behavioural safety improvement plan in my area of responsibility.
Conducted investigations of day-to-day problems at plant by sorting out information and splitting problems into their basic elements using analytical skills.
Managing and assisting in achieving production target in compliance with quality and safety procedure.
Imparting continuous on job training to the workforce for enhancing their productivity and operational efficiencies through knowledge enhancement-skill-building program.
Executed and implemented standard operating procedures and was also responsible for updating standard operating procedures (SOP) against modifications and process changes at plant.