Wyatt Chagin, senior corporate project engineer at ASR Group’s Domino Sugar refinery in Baltimore, Maryland, will never forget the events of April 20, 2021.
“That was the day the raw sugar shed at the refinery experienced a fire. I was an engineering intern at the time and part of the team responsible for the cleanup effort to get the refinery back up and running,” said Wyatt. “I took on the night shifts and was given assignments to carry out in order for work the next day to be successful. “That event allowed me to showcase my skills and develop my base leadership and teamwork skills, as well as bond with my co-workers.”
ASR Group is the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar. The company produces a full line of grocery, industrial, food service and specialty sweetener products, and owns and operates six sugar refineries in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In Europe, the company owns and operates sugar refineries in the United Kingdom, Portugal, and, with a joint venture partner, Italy. ASR Group also farms sugarcane and owns sugar mills in Mexico and Belize.
“Our corporate engineering team immediately started work on designing the new raw sugar warehouse, and later I was selected to lead as project manager for the design and construction phases,” Wyatt said. “Today, work is almost complete, and we are on the verge of commissioning the new raw sugar warehouse with a capacity of 100 million pounds. This project made me the engineer I am today. I cannot be prouder of our team’s achievements and how we saw this project through.”
Wyatt’s road to engineering began as a child growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.
“My mother believed I would be a perfect fit for this field due to my love of Legos,” he said. “I was unsure what I wanted to do during my last few years of high school and considered everything from mechanics to majoring in music or going into the military. My mom didn’t like any of those options and steered me toward engineering.”
Wyatt went on to obtain a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
“My uncle, Tom Chagin, also works for ASR Group. He started out in the Cleveland, Ohio plant and then worked his way through corporate engineering in various roles which led him to the Baltimore Refinery,” said Wyatt. “We had conversations while I was in college about what type of engineer I wanted to be. He asked if I wanted to be an engineer that digs into problems or works in management and then said, ‘What about both?’ Uncle Tom then introduced me to ASR Group’s internship program, which brought me to Maryland, and the rest is history.”
A typical workday for Wyatt at the Baltimore Refinery includes meeting with company personnel and contractors to discuss projects, walking through job sites, connecting with contractors and refinery personnel, responding to contractor questions and developing and managing capital projects and financials.
“There’s never a dull moment and I wear multiple hats,” he said. “From permitting to civil and electrical work, we do everything on the engineering spectrum here at the Baltimore Refinery.”
For Wyatt, the most challenging part of his job is not being able to be everywhere at once.
“I’ve had to learn that I cannot work on every problem, every solution and every cool project,” he said. “Each day, I continue to learn how to delegate tasks as well as help advise others, which are skills I continue to grow.”
Collaboration and teamwork are what makes the American sugar industry and the Baltimore Refinery unique, according to Wyatt.
“One of the great things about ASR Group is the longevity of its employees’ careers,” he said. “If there are problems or changes that must be made, it most likely has been thought of before by one of the senior members. Ideas can be bounced off them to get ahead of the game. I had the privilege to work alongside engineers Mickey Seither and Rich Baker as well as other incredible individuals who helped make the Baltimore Refinery ‘tick.’ They taught me that no matter how much technology advances, communication between team members is always crucial to achieving success. We are in the business of manufacturing and packaging the best quality products, but we are equally in the business of developing relationships with others. This is a people business, and that is the most valuable lesson of all.”
The sugar industry has a bright future filled with exciting prospects for current and future engineers, said Wyatt.
“There are plenty of career opportunities within the sugar industry for different types of engineering, whether in construction, processing and packaging, or directly related to raw sugar coming into the mills. Who would have thought a sugar refining company would have an engineering division dedicated to developing construction projects? Certainly not me when I started.”
In his free time, Wyatt enjoys home renovation projects with his fiancé, Lauren, a 7th grade teacher. His other hobbies include attending music festivals, playing guitar and cello and cheering on Cleveland’s sports teams.
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