Frank M. van Lier has 30 years experience leading people and projects across Manufacturing, R&D and New Product Development.
Frank began his career in Process Development for Lubrizol’s Wickliffe, Ohio facility before spending 10 years at Lubrizol’s Painesville, Ohio production plant. While in the production plant worked in a variety of roles including time as an environmental engineer and production superintendent.
He returned to Wickliffe as a group leader in the Process Development Department with a focus on detergents, completed a short stint as an analyst for the VP of R&D with a focus on R&D portfolio management and then moved to a small entrepreneurial team charged with developing, building the manufacturing system and marketing Lubrizol’s controlled release technology.
Frank then moved to Corporate Operations as process technology and sourcing team lead with global responsibility for a broad range of specialty chemistries. His team was responsible for new product process development, ongoing process support and capacity planning. Effective January 2012, Frank assumed responsibility for the Operations Support Department at Lubrizol’s Deer Park, Texas plant, the world’s largest lubricant additive manufacturing plant. Responsibilities include process improvement, training and quality systems.
Frank has a BS Chemical Engineering University of Cincinnati, an MBA Finance & Marketing Case Western Reserve University. He was the previous chair of AICHE’s Management Division, and currently its director. He’s a member of AICHE’s Chemical Technology Operating Council (CTOC) and long time presenter and panelist at AICHE’s fall student conferences.
Frank is all about working in global teams to achieve amazing results and a holder of two patents – first in use in one of Lubrizol’s French manufacturing plants, other imbedded in the High Mileage® oil filters from Fram.