Introduction to Process Technology
Charles E. Thomas
Cengage Learning, 13-Jan-2015 - Education - 512 pages
Suitable for both aspiring process technicians and active process technology professionals, this wide-ranging guide provides a thorough grounding in the history, science, technology, equipment, systems, operations, and troubleshooting principles associated with modern manufacturing. Following years of widespread use and testing, INTRODUCTION TO PROCESS TECHNOLOGY, Fourth Edition, is a proven product featuring a logical sequence of topics—including safety, instrumentation, applied physics and chemistry, and quality control—aligned to the structure of accredited college courses and professional training programs. Technically accurate and up to date, the Fourth Edition remains affordable, reader-friendly, and highly visual, with ample illustrations and photographs to make complex technical concepts easier to understand and apply.
Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hTV-BAAAQBAJ
Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Technology - Volume IV: Process Development, Modeling, Optimization, Control and Process Management
Ryzhard Pohorecki, John Bridgwater, M. Molzahn. Rafiqul Gani and Crispulo Gallegos
EOLSS Publications, 30-Nov-2010 - 424 pages
Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Technology is a theme component of Encyclopedia of Chemical Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty Encyclopedias.
Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering, dealing with processes in which materials undergo changes in their physical or chemical state. These changes may concern size, energy content, composition and/or other application properties. Chemical engineering deals with many processes belonging to chemical industry or related industries (petrochemical, metallurgical, food, pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, coatings and colors, renewable raw materials, biotechnological, etc.), and finds application in manufacturing of such products as acids, alkalis, salts, fuels, fertilizers, crop protection agents, ceramics, glass, paper, colors, dyestuffs, plastics, cosmetics, vitamins and many others. It also plays significant role in environmental protection, biotechnology, nanotechnology, energy production and sustainable economical development.
The Theme on Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Technology deals, in five volumes and covers several topics such as: Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering; Unit Operations – Fluids; Unit Operations – Solids; Chemical Reaction Engineering; Process Development, Modeling, Optimization and Control; Process Management; The Future of Chemical Engineering; Chemical Engineering Education; Main Products, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter.
These five volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=w9FNCwAAQBAJ
Notes on Process Technology Strategy - Chapter 6 in Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2021/01/technology-processes-and-people.html
Evaluating process technology
It involves exploring, understanding and describing the strategic consequences of adopting alternatives.
it is useful to consider three generic classes of evaluation criteria:
● the feasibility of the process technology; that is the degree of difficulty in adopting it, and the investment of time, effort and money that will be needed;
● the acceptability of the process technology; that is how much it takes a firm towards its strategic objectives, or the return the firm gets for choosing it;
● the vulnerability associated with the process technology; that is the extent to which the firm is exposed if things go wrong, the risk that is run by choosing the technology
Evaluating feasibility
If the resources required to implement technology are greater than those that are either available or can be obtained, the technology is not feasible. So evaluating the feasibility of an option means finding out how the various types of resource that the option might need match up to what is available. Four broad questions are applicable.
What technical or human skills are required to implement the technology?
What ‘quantity’ or ‘amount’ of resources is required to implement the technology?
What are the funding or cash requirements?
Can the operation cope with the degree of change in resource requirements?
Evaluating acceptability
Acceptability in financial terms
Financial evaluation involves predicting and analysing the financial costs to which an option would commit the organisation, and the financial benefits that might accrue from acquiring the process technology over the life-cycle. Project appraisal is done over the life of the project.
Limitations of conventional financial evaluation
Conventional financial evaluation has come under criticism for its inability to include enough relevant factors to give a true picture of complex investments.
Acceptability in terms of impact on market requirements.
Market requirements are the performance dimensions
Any evaluation must reflect the impact of process technology on each performance objective relative to their importance to achieving a particular market position. Often there will be trade-offs involved in adopting a new process technology.
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Quality
Does the process technology improve the specification of the product or service?
Speed
Does the process technology enable a faster response to customers?
Does the process technology speed the throughput of internal processes?
Dependability
Does the process technology enable products and/or services to be delivered dependably?
Flexibility
Does the process technology allow the operation to change in response to changes in customer demand?
Cost
Does the process technology process materials, information or customers more efficiently and give higher productivity?
Acceptability in terms of impact on operational resources
At the same time, however, it is important to build up a picture of the contribution that process technology can make to the longer-term capability ‘endowment’ of the operation. These four dimensions of assessment are:
● the scarcity of resources;
● how difficult the resources are to move;
● how difficult the resources are to copy;
● how difficult the resources are to substitute for.
These four dimensions provide us with a ‘first cut’ mechanism for assessing the impact that a specific technological resource will have upon sustainable competitive advantage.
Tangible and intangible resources
Tangible resources are the actual physical assets that the company possesses. In process technology terms these will be the machines, computers, materials handling equipment, and so on, used within the operation. Intangible resources are not necessarily directly observable but nevertheless have value for the company. Things such as relationship and brand strength, supplier relationships, process knowledge, and so on are all real but not always directly tangible. This concept of intangible resources is important when considering process technology.
A unit of technology may not be any different physically from the technology used by competitors. However, its use may add to the company’s reputation, skills, knowledge and experience.
Thus, depending on how the process technology is used, the value of the intangible aspect of a process technology may be greater than its physical worth. If the usefulness of process technology also depends on the software it employs, then this also must be evaluated. Again, although software may be bought off the shelf and is therefore available to competitors, if it is deployed in imaginative and creative ways its real value can be enhanced.
Vulnerability because of changed resource dependencies
Specific skills are needed if the technology is to be installed, maintained, upgraded and controlled effectively. In other words, the technology has a set of ‘resource dependencies’. Changing to a different process technology often means changing this set of resource dependencies. This may have a positive aspect when the firm succeeds in implementation. The skills, knowledge and experience necessary to implement and operate the technology can be scarce and difficult to copy and hence provide a platform for sustainable advantage.
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https://www.slideshare.net/NelsonOpena/operations-management-process-technology-72195787
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https://op-scm.com/evaluating-process-technology/
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Processes for Evaluating and Developing Technologies
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18545.
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