ROBERT BRELSFORD
Downstream Technology Editor
In an era of refining and petrochemical companies' voracious race to find the latest and greatest technology solutions to help them achieve what quickly is beginning to look like complete virtual operation of their manufacturing sites, it's encouraging to know a certain group of ladies and gentlemen out there-the true brains behind the processing business, really-haven't forgotten what actually keeps a plant running.
We're talking about process engineers here, obviously, and each and every one of us should be grateful they're keeping up the fight to do their jobs despite growing pressures on them from "powers up above" to trust computers to do it for them.
Brain power
One typically gauges the worthwhileness of technology industry events based on the value of their informational content. Were the sessions lively and informative? Was the information presented freshly and insightfully? Did I learn things I didn't know before I attended?
More often than not, though, the greatest learning takes place outside the event doors, in conversations with fellow attendees, as it did for this editor at a recent downstream conference.
On the verge of collapse as I waited for an elevator back to my hotel room after a nearly 9-hr day of back-to-back information sessions, I ended up in what turned into a 2-hr chat with a young process engineer from a major refining company. While we spoke of many things, our conversation revolved around a single question she asked of me early on: "Have you ever heard of a process engineer not having to go into the plant for nearly 3 weeks?"
Sadly, the lunacy encapsulated in that question is becoming all too common these days, as other conversations with many more process engineers (working for different companies, no less) have revealed.
The push seemingly has become to automate everything, to monitor from afar via iPhones and iPads. The trend is part of the Big Data movement, of course, but as my engineer friend rightly asked, to what end?
"I get the concept behind collecting the data, but what good is the data considering all we're really doing is storing it? No one's really looking at it yet, and I'm not sure anyone would really know what to look for even if they did.
As defeating as it sounds, that seems to be only the tip of a rather depressing iceberg. Other process engineers have expressed the disappointment in finding themselves in a career where computer work has replaced the sole reason that drove them to enter the profession in the first place-to do field work.
"I think [they] don't realize a computer isn't a brain," my engineer friend said. "They're helpful, no question about it, but they're not a brain. And when it's all said and done, if something goes wrong, it won't be a computer that gets fired, will it?"
A gift
For those of you process engineers out there experiencing these same thoughts and feelings-and especially for those of you managers, planners, and decision makers at risk of forgetting what truly drives a plant's success-this downstream technology editor is pleased to announce a new Oil & Gas Journal series beginning in the Apr. 3 print monthly issue that will present a back-to-basics-and-beyond approach to process engineering principles and concepts applied within the context of feet-on-the-ground experiences in plants around the world.
Authored by Norman P. Lieberman, this series for process engineers marks a special moment in OGJ history as Mr. Lieberman's second extended-article collection for the magazine following his original, industry-recognized "Troubleshooting Process Operations" series that ran from 1979-81.
Geared to young and veteran engineers alike, the series will provide a straightforward look at the core knowledge and skill sets that enable process engineers to do their jobs well, whether with or without their computers.