P&ID Calls for Chemical Process Development
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash Back in April 2021, I wrote about Working from Home. One of the points was about video calls and how to “read eyes” to gauge the attendees’ interest and your communication success. Now, however, we’re experiencing “video fatigue.” We’re combating this by returning to telephone calls to discuss chemical process development. But some people have forgotten how to have an effective phone conversation. Others are afraid to pick up the telephone. Fortunately,…
Moonshot & Management Lessons
Photo by malith d karunarathne on Unsplash 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Miracle Mets World Series-winning season, Joe Namath and the New York Jets taking the Super Bowl title, and the New York Knicks’ NBA Championship win with Bill Bradley. 1969 was quite a time for me as I was growing up a sports fan in Brooklyn. But now that I’m older, I find I’m more drawn to the management lessons we can glean from something else that happened in 1969 — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike…
Thinking Critically in Process Troubleshooting
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash In past blogs, I’ve talked about reactive and proactive process troubleshooting. Reactive troubleshooting requires quick action to look at mechanical issues, upstream and downstream equipment, and operational procedures. In proactive troubleshooting, we ask probing questions and walk around the plant to uncover potential problems and offer solutions. Dirk Willard, Contributing Editor of Chemical Processing, in his recent article “Read and Think…