I have been working in equipment procurement for over 4 years and now feel I’ve hit a bottleneck; I don’t know what to do next

Thread Content

I started working at a medium-to-large chemical company that had been restructured for two years right after graduating in 2006. Background in mechanical equipment engineering. After graduation, I started working in the workshop on shift rotations; a few months later, I moved to day shifts and began working with the workshop’s equipment technician (who is now my mentor) on the inspection and maintenance of the equipment. Starting from the second year, I switched to being a equipment operator. Since the company operates continuous production facilities and I live in a dormitory, by the end of the second year, I’m usually the one who has to handle any issues that arise with the equipment on weekends or at night. Houran Company formed a joint venture with a foreign firm to establish a factory; the production equipment and products there are the same as those in our old factory, so I went there as well. It went through the construction, commissioning, and operation of new facilities at the factory. It was really tough during that time; I had to work overtime almost every day. During those days when I was driving, I didn’t go home for 36 hours straight and stayed at the factory, with hardly any sleep at all. Once driving was back to normal, I moved to the Production Department and the Equipment Section, where I worked as an equipment operator for one of the installations together with a senior colleague; at the same time, I was responsible for overseeing the company’s static equipment and pressure vessels. Later, it was because of poor relations with the company’s first head of equipment department (he didn’t like to flatter people and simply preferred to do his own job well). There are also many tasks that aren’t supposed to be his but end up on his shoulders; when there’s work to be done, the manager pulls him in to take credit for it. Of course, his salary isn’t very high, and he doesn’t get any part of any salary increases. —— Our company’s general manager doesn’t like this section chief; he’s often scolded and there are attempts to fire him. My close friend’s then-girlfriend, who is now his wife, would often tell me about the times he gets scolded over meals. So, in my third year at the new company, I submitted an application to my supervisors to leave or change roles. It just so happened that the procurement department was short of staff at that time, and the then procurement manager thought I was pretty good. I also have experience with equipment; the person in charge of equipment procurement at that time was my former supervisor from my old factory, so I took on the task of handling equipment procurement. I have been doing this for over 4 years now, and I find procurement to be a very exhausting task. In our company, we need to purchase everything from pumps, motors, pipes, valves, flanges, bolts, and other moving and stationary equipment, to low-value consumables – ranging from large items like storage tanks and reaction vessels to small items such as bolts, as well as things like mops and brooms used in the workshops. There’s never enough to do every day. There are also bidding processes for company safety and environmental assessment agencies. During that time, I was involved in a large-scale project for the company (a large project by the company’s standards, with a total investment of 200 million). As a member of the project team, along with our purchasing manager, we were involved in the bidding process, starting from the design firms, moving on to the construction companies, and then to the bidding for equipment such as large towers, reaction vessels, and refrigeration units. It can’t rise now; it’s not like production or sales. Almost everyone entered the factory; many of them were section chiefs or deputy section chiefs. I feel a bit lost; I want to change jobs, but with the mortgage payments each month and the cost of supporting my nearly 2-year-old daughter, I don’t have much courage to take that step. (The monthly salary is so low; it’s just enough to cover the mortgage and child-rearing costs, with hardly any money left over each month). I’m looking for a job with a higher salary than my current one, but I’m worried that working at another company might not be as easy as it is at my current job. I’ve been working here for so many years. He can also be considered an elder. Everyone’s face is familiar; those who come out from the equipment and the people working with the equipment all get along well. But currently, the salaries are average, and there’s basically no room for improvement in the short term. I’m feeling a bit lost right now