Process Industries Division
What are the Process Industries?
The process industries are those industries where the primary production processes are either continuous, or occur on a batch of materials that is indistinguishable. For example, a food processing company making sauce may make the sauce in a continuous, uninterrupted flow from receipt of ingredients through packaging. Or batches may be produced depending on the cook kettle sizes but immediately combined and re-routed. In either case, there is no concept of a unit of sauce while it is being processed. Examples of the process industries include food, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, ceramics, base metals, coal, plastics, rubber, textiles, tobacco, wood and wood products, paper and paper products, etc.
For more on the role of industrial engineering in process industries, read "Making Cereal Not Cars," a primer on process industries. This article was published in the December 2008 issue of Industrial Engineer magazine and is available only to IIE members. If you are not a member, join IIE for access to this article as well as additional member-only benefits.
FREE Webinar: 5S in the Process Industry
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 21
Time: 12-1 p.m. ET
Presenter: Vincent W. Howell, engineering project porfolio manager, Display Technologies Division, Corning Inc.
5S is widely used as a starting place for continuous improvement efforts. Furthermore, numerous process industry companies have begun the process of implementing continuous improvement by beginning their journey using 5S. This webinar discusses the Lean manufacturing concept of 5S, including lessons learned based on industry research of those who have implemented the philosophy in the process industry.
Space is limited. Register now!
What is the Process Industries Division?
Applying industrial engineering tools in the process industries can vary greatly from applying these same tools in discrete parts manufacturing. The Process Industries Division is a forum for the exchange of ideas in theory and practice of industrial engineering techniques applied to process industries; facilitating greater interactions among industry and academic professionals by organizing workshops, meetings, symposia and sponsoring sessions at high-profile national and international conferences.
President's message
A number of us enjoyed the 2010 annual conference in Cancún. But if you couldn’t go, you were in good company. Every year only a fraction of the IIE membership shows up for the conference – and there aren’t many of us who don’t miss the conference some of the time because of budget limitations, alternate training opportunities, and demands on our time – both personal and professional. I think IE’s, even more than most professionals, are pulled in a large variety of directions because of all the things we have our hands in. Still, consider “building a case” for the conference next year. The telephone and webinar interactions we share for professional activities are useful, but I really value the opportunity to “put a face with the name and voice” as I was privileged to do in Cancún.
In the meantime, take advantage of the webinars and meetings the division has going on every month. We hope at some point to get video conferencing using the webcams that are becoming common on laptops. But I still learn a lot from just plain Powerpoint and voice. There’s a lot of talent in the PID community – and a lot that I can learn from them. Maybe you’ll find that true as well. Have a great summer!
J. Bennett Foster
President, PID
Current events
- PID has completed seven very successful PID webinars since the program was begun in May 2009, and there are three more slated for the remainder of 2010. The current schedule is listed on this page. Past webinar broadcasts and chart sets.
- Student Paper Competition: PID is making plans to offer a student paper award. A “Call for Papers” should go out in the fall. If you are interested in serving on the committee for the paper competition, contact Luis Armendariz.
PID webinars
PID hosted another successful webinar on May 4, "Kaizen Events as Lean Six Sigma Projects" by Peter King. Recording and charts of all webinars
Upcoming Webinars
- TPM in the Process Industries - Nov. 19
If you have suggestions for future webinar topics, please contact Vincent Howell.
PID Track at the annual conference
Joe Paris chaired a strong track of Process Industries talks at the IIE annual conference in Cancún. Presentations were:
- Do Process Plants Have Bottlenecks? How to Recognize them (Peter King)
- OEE: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Dirk Van Goubergen)
- SPC Study of a Brewing Process (Edgardo Escalante-Vazquez)
- Sprint Team Driven Process Improvements (Harry Shah)
- Simulation Applications in the Process Industries (Bennett Foster)
- When Information Becomes Noise (Joseph F. Paris Jr.)
PID Town Hall Meeting at the annual conference
A total of 11 people attended the PID town hall meeting at the conference. (This was record attendance, at least within recent years!) Attendees spanned industry, academia and consulting:
- Saed Madjidi, CMTC
- Peter King, Lean Dynamics
- Kazuhid Motegi, DNP
- Joe Paris, Xonitek
- Dirk Van Goubergen, Ghent University
- Luis Armendariz, Baxter
- Tim McGlothlin, N.C. State University
- Richard Hulse, Xonitek
- Elad Shalit, Syngenta
- Martin, Stein, CCI
- Bennett Foster, DuPont
Discussion topics included:
- New by-laws
- Topics and speakers for 2011 PID webinars
- PID blog
- How to join PID
- How PID can help your career – and how you can help PID
Monthly PID Advisory Board telephone meetings
The PID board holds a one-hour call each month, both to discuss administrative details (approximately 20 minutes) and to conduct a roundtable discussion on a topic of current interest to IEs (20-30 minutes). All PID members are welcome to participate.
If you'd like to be added to the distribution list for these calls, please contact Bennett Foster. Or just dial in using this information:
Day: Second Monday of each month (e.g., March 8)
Time: Noon Eastern time
Toll free call-in number: (866) 951-1151
Conference room number: 7215762
PID Personnel News
Deb Laudenslager was honored as an IIE Fellow at the annual conference. As well as being a PID member, Deb serves as IIE Technical VP for divisions which include PID.
Peter King has joined the Drexel University Engineering Management Program as adjunct faculty. Peter was also recently certified by APICS as CSCP.
Vincent Howell was honored with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Award of Merit, at the SME conference on June 7 in Nashville.
If you have an award, publication, or promotion, then share the news with your colleagues in PID. E-mail to Bennett Foster and it will be shared here in the next newsletter!
Recent webinars
Kaizen Events as Lean Six Sigma Projects
Safety in the Process Industries
Work Measurement and Lean Applications in the Process Industries
Value Stream Mapping in the Process Industries
Simulation in the Process Industries
Determining Economic Production Quantities (EPQ) in a Continuous Process: A Case Study
SMED in the Process Industries; Webinar PDF
Industrial engineers have always had to adapt to diverse work environments ranging from automotive assembly plants to steel-making foundry operations. One work environment that has been historically challenging to IEs has been within what are known as the process industries. Unlike traditional parts manufacturing and assembly operations, the process industry has inherent challenges that must be overcome for IE tools to be effective. Member only content - please log in to view. Get information on joining IIE
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