Process engineers (finally) wanted
1 Aug 2008
UK process operations have long worked to a beat set by the financial sector and the demands of owners and shareholders for near-term profitability - too often at the expense of investment in improving practices and equipment.
However, now with the global credit crunch and increasing concerns over energy costs and climate change, it seems that the powers that be are finally waking up to the importance of process engineering to the business organisation and the economy as a whole.
On the national and international stage, there is an urgent need for expertise to drive the development of energy-efficiency and emission-reduction technologies - as highlighted by our news report on the UK government’s carbon capture and storage initiatives.
More significant, though, are the signs that process engineers are gaining a stronger hand within their own organisations, which increasingly need to reduce their production costs and meet tightening environmental regulation.
Reflecting the new mood, Dave Sheppard of MWH forecasts that regulations to reduce industrial emissions will free pump-system engineers and designers from the costdown pressures of the past.
As Sheppard comments in PE’s June/July Energy feature: “The climate change debate offers engineers a tremendous opportunity to bring to fruition the kind of efficient pumping systems that they have been advocating for years.”
Meanwhile, Paul Coffey, managing director of npower business, predicts “a move away from the quick-win situation in which energy efficiency measures are only made for short-term financial gain.” He urges companies to adopt policies in which energy-buying and related investment decisions are done on a more holistic basis.
However, there seems some way to go before we see a shift in the balance of power to the engineering departments. Our Drives feature, for example, finds a continuing reluctance among engineering managers to break free from the shackles of the past, and push for investment in new process technologies.
