Process Engineering, the science and art of transforming raw materials and energy into a vast array of commercial materials, was conceived at the end of the 19th Century. Its history in the role of the Process Industries has been quite honorable, and techniques and products have contributed to improve health, welfare and quality of life. Today, industrial enterprises, which are still a major source of wealth, have to deal with new challenges in a global world. They need to reconsider their strategy taking into account environmental constraints, social requirements, profit, competition, and resource depletion.
“Systems thinking” is a prerequisite from process development at the lab level to good project management. New manufacturing concepts have to be considered, taking into account LCA, supply chain management, recycling, plant flexibility, continuous development, process intensification and innovation.
This book combines experience from academia and industry in the field of industrialization, i.e. in all processes involved in the conversion of research into successful operations. Enterprises are facing major challenges in a world of fierce competition and globalization. Process engineering techniques provide Process Industries with the necessary tools to cope with these issues. The chapters of this book give a new approach to the management of technology, projects and manufacturing.

Contents

Part 1: The Company as of Today
1. The Industrial Company: its Purpose, History, Context, and its Tomorrow?, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
2. The Two Modes of Operation of the Company – Operational and Entrepreneurial, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
3. The Strategic Management of the Company: Industrial Aspects, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
Part 2: Process Development and Industrialization
4. Chemical Engineering and Process Engineering, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
5. Foundations of Process Industrialization, Jean-François Joly.
6. The Industrialization Process: Preliminary Projects, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont and Michel Royer.
7. Lifecycle Analysis and Eco-Design: Innovation Tools for Sustainable Industrial Chemistry, Sylvain Caillol.
8. Methods for Design and Evaluation of Sustainable Processes and Industrial Systems, Catherine Azzaro-Pantel.
9. Project Management Techniques: Engineering, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
Part 3: The Necessary Adaptation of the Company for the Future
10. Japanese Methods, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
11. Innovation in Chemical Engineering Industries, Oliver Potier and Mauricio Camargo.
12. The Place of Intensified Processes in the Plant of the Future, Laurent Falk.
13. Change Management, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.
14. The Plant of the Future, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.