UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Anabel Ugalde-HuebeAge: 25Dow Chemical Co.Seadrift, TXEngineering runs in the family of Anabel Ugalde-Huebe, with her sister being a manufacturingengineer and her father an architectural engineer.A native of Mexico City, Anabel moved with herparents to south Texas at age 10, and after acclimatingto a new school and an unfamiliar language, Anabel excelledin her studies, especially in math and the sciences.“Math and science kind of ran in the family. It wasalmost automatic,” Anabel said. “I love painting, and inall my high school years I spent at least an hour a dayin an art room.”Two weeks after graduating from Texas A&MUniversity-Kingsville with a bachelor of science degreein chemical engineering,Anabel was hired by the DowChemical Co. as a Six SigmaBlack Belt Engineer for Dow’sSeadrift, TX, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol manufacturingplant. Now Lead Production Engineer, Anabel’swork involves optimization and implementation ofmanufacturing process operations for the productionof ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol.Her skill and diligence in her work has impressedJoseph Smith, production leader and Anabel’s supervisor,who nominated her for 30 Under 30. In hisnomination, Smith wrote that “Anabel exemplifies theperfect production engineer that we all want for ourfacilities. The word that comes to mind is ‘balanced.’She is balanced more so than any production engineerI have worked with in that she displays great skill andaptitude in technology and engineering but is able tovery effectively collaborate across all levels of the companyand also very actively supports the community asan ambassador of Dow Chemical."Math and science kind of ran in thefamily. It was almost automatic."UNDER THIRTY“She enjoys plant technology and uses what shelearns along with core engineering skills to improvetraining and operating discipline in addition to makingdramatic improvement to plant efficiency,” Smithsaid. “She has her Six Sigma Black Belt Certificationand recently completed a project that delivered on itsgoal ... The result is a validation of her skills as leadinga cross-functional team of plant engineers, designengineers, plant operators, operations specialists, andmaintenance specialists.”Anabel is passionate about helping out in the communityand is an active volunteer in community activitiessuch as Habitat for Humanity, Smith noted, andalso at local events such as“You Be the Chemist Challenge”at local area schools,where she engages studentsin understanding of chemical discoveries and chemicalsafety awareness.“She is also active in Dow networks such as WIN(Women’s Innovation Network), NPN (New ProfessionalsNetwork), HLN (Hispanic Latin Network), andSPEN (Seadrift Production Engineer Network),” Smithadded. “She also currently leads the University relationteam and led the development of strategy thatfocuses on attracting talent to the Seadrift, Texas site.Her efforts with these teams and networks bring greatvalue to Dow in terms of diversity to the site and in attractingand even more importantly, retaining talentednew professionals. I feel that Anabel epitomizes the‘example’ engineer we all would like to have workingin our block. To also consider that she is under 30,attests to the talent present and the great potential forthe future.” METHIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES29 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013