Chemical Engineering & Project Management
a historical perspective
Chemical Engineering is now a more century old profession and history has shown that it had to surmount many challenges before being accepted widely. Project Management as a practice started off much later seems to follow a similar trajectory. In this article a comparison is made of the evolution of the two disciplines, understanding the areas of commonality and some concepts that project management can follow in its practice. One such practice is the concept of ‘unit operations’ which was a principal reason for the widespread use of chemical engineering. Similar to this, it is propounded that we can use the concept of a ’universal process’ in project management which will enable it to be applied as a generic methodology and will go a long way in implementation of any project irrespective of the domain, industry or size.
Historical comparison
Chemical Engineering
The development of chemical engineering as a discipline and practice can be observed through six periods.
(1780 -1880) The initial years: Saw the emergence of a substantial chemical industry and the new science of chemistry
(1880 -1910) Origins of chemical engineering: A ‘Society of chemical engineers’ was first started in the UK and formal educational courses first offered by universities in the period 1887 /1888. Before 1905 many universities in the US were offering such courses and this matched the growth of chemical industry. In 1908 the American Institute of Chemical Engineers was formed.
(1910- 1945) Defining a new profession: Major focus was on education. Arthur D Little first coined the term ‘unit operations’ in 1915. During this period various books were published most notable being Principles of Chemical Engineering, Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook and Chemische Ingenieur–Technik.
(1945–1970) Sustained Growth: Substantial spreading of education and awareness around the world occurred. Emergence of Chemical Engineering Science movement. Introduction of principles of transport phenomena and mathematical understanding of chemical engineering. Start of interest in Bio-chemical engineering.
(1970–1995) New challenges: Stagnation in growth due to less product development form the sixties, energy prices and safety concerns and pollution control issues became threats to the growth of chemical engineering.
(1995-present) A Paradigm shift? The London communiqué signed by eighteen societies of professional chemical engineers around the world review the role of chemical engineers and considered a more holistic approach which included quality of life, employment, economic and social development, protection of the environment and encompassed the essence of sustainable development.
Project Management
Historically, the major events that have taken place in practice of project management can be viewed in terms of the following periods.
The 1950s
Two pioneering techniques for project planning and monitoring, namely Critical Path Method (CPM), and Project Evaluation Review Technique (PERT), were developed in the USA, but quite independently, in the late 1950s.
The 1960s
Project cost management (and its associated project resource scheduling) was added to project time management as a distinctive project management technique, and integration of the two was proceeding. Professional project management bodies were formed independently in Europe and North America.
The 1970s
The emergence and/or refinement of a much wider range of tools and techniques, including WBS, responsibility assignment matrices, and ‘earned value’ methods were significant developments. Matrix forms of organization became commonplace.
The 1980s and early 1990s
There was increased efforts to represent project management as a structured discipline and approach. Project management came to be perceived as an appropriate methodology for responding to and initiating change. The development of certification/registration programs for project managers received more attention.
1990s to Now
Various trends can be observed in the environment for example global competition, rapid technological change, product obsolescence, organization downsizing, process improvement, quality / continuous improvement, measurement and inter-organizational systems.
Comments on Historical comparison
Fig 1 shows that historically project management is following the footsteps of chemical engineering. 1910–1945 was the period for defining the chemical engineering profession. Project management as a practice is still in that stage because there is a still a strong debate on whether project management is a profession by itself. It has still to reach the status reached by professional engineers as it is still not been made mandatory to employ certified project managers for projects even for large projects or those which are complex. It is interesting to note the similarity in sudden growth of chemical engineering and project management during sudden periods in Fig 2 -1945 -1995 for Chemical Engineering and 1990 to 2010 for Project management. There are in fact many commonalities that can be observed between the two professions, and this is discussed in the next section.
Project Management & Chemical Engineering disciplines: Similarities in development
Commonality of processes across industrial sectors: Earlier manufacturing processes in each industry like dyes, drugs & pharmaceuticals, bulk chemicals, plastics were studied individually and practiced as such. A significant development in Chemical Engineering occurred when the concept of Unit Operations was introduced by Arthur D Little in 1915 in the USA. This established the commonality of physical processes in many process and chemical industries. Historically, Project Management seems to have followed a trajectory similar to chemical engineering .This can be seen starting with the use of tools and techniques like CPM, PERT and Cost Management during WW II and later on with the introduction of bodies of knowledge and common processes when project management standards were formulated in the US/UK in the 1980s. Earlier, project management as a subject was specific to different domains and industries whether it be construction, product development or R&D, manufacturing, social sector, etc. With the introduction of various standards in project management, the commonality among various domains was understood and this also became the driving force for its growth as a potential new profession.
Struggle for acceptance as a generic discipline: The development of chemical engineering as a profession and practice forms an interesting story probably matching elements of intrigue, suspense and struggle which are probably found only in mystery novels. Initially, chemical engineers found it difficult to establish their uniqueness and worth as the need for a new profession was questioned and the role played by them was unclear. Industrial chemists in America found it easier to adopt chemical engineering as a practice and profession though the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) faced competition from the older and powerful American Chemical Society (ACS). Faced with the possibility of direct conflict with the ACS, the AICHE decided on a course of action designed to minimize rivalry and remain on good of terms and followed an attitude of cooperation rather than competition.
Dates: Chemical Engineering started in the early 1900s and now more than 100 years old profession. Project Management started in 1950s and that sense it is clear 50 years behind and relatively younger profession.
Project & Product orientation: At its inception and during the last century, the discipline of Chemical Engineering has largely been project oriented. The concept of unit operations became perceptible and useful more for large scale and continuous type production processes rather than smaller batch type industrial production. However, recently there has been some interest in applying chemical engineering processes for product development particularly when looking at customized solutions for individual customers or businesses. The trend in the future will be to move towards producing specialty products which will be a based on custom engineering / manufacturing and exclusive synthesis focused on the customer. Product / Project engineering & management will become common place as compared to large scale continuous processing.
Unit Operations and Processes in Chemical Engineering
Unit Operations
The concept of ‘unit operations’ helped delineate the domain of chemical engineering and distinguished it from industrial chemistry and mechanical engineering. It was the key in establishing the uniqueness and independence of a new field and profession.
The concept of unit operation has been used to simplify the study of chemical engineering. Instead of having to study each chemical industry separately, the chemical engineer can merely learn the principles basic of the different unit operations which can be applied no matter what the chemical field or industry maybe.
‘Universal’ processes in project management?
The historical development of chemical engineering and project management shows many parallels. Most striking similarity is the universal application of basic processes irrespective of domain or field. In project management we may have some difficulty in using the word ’operation’ as it can have a different meaning particularly when we need to differentiate between a project and an operation. Therefore, possibly we can use the term ‘universal process’ to denote common processes used in project management. Processes of PMBOK guide are potentially ‘universal processes’ e.g. Creating WBS, develop a schedule, acquiring a team, control project scope and closing a project, etc. would all fall under this category. In such a case the take-away will be that for any project to be implemented common processes have necessarily to be applied and accordingly knowledge and skills are to be acquired by them or contracting with a group or organization that have such capabilities.
One of the main objectives of standards like the PMBOK guide or those similar in project management is to establish the universal nature of common project processes but it is a moot point whether in practice the industry or business sector is perceiving it and applying in that way . In the author’s experience except for some fields where project management is well established (e.g. power, technology, manufacturing, etc.) and commonality of processes is observed there are other fields (social sector, marketing, entertainment, events, academic, etc.) where the learning is anecdotal or empirical resulting in reinventing the wheel and giving credit or perceiving it as new or innovative moment when in fact routine project management practice has been deployed. There is a lot of ground to be covered before project management processes can truly be considered a unified process of implementation (similar to one how one would consider other professions e.g., accounting) and in this regard the concept of a ‘universal process’ would go a long way in evangelizing the application of project management in non-traditional sectors.
Conclusions
Chemical engineering as a discipline started off in the early 1900 and progressed through stages of definition of a profession, sustained growth and further challenges in maintaining it. The main conceptual milestones have been unit operations, transport phenomena and its interface with biological sciences. Project management started off much later in the early 1950s principally with time management tools like CPM /PERT to which were first cost was cost and thereafter other knowledge areas. Subsequently soft skills got introduced as practice areas. At present, the focus is on understanding stakeholders, implementation of organizational strategy through projects and improving the maturity of organizations. Historically, project management has still to come of age as a profession compared to chemical engineering since in case of the former there is a still a debate on whether it is truly a profession as compared to the latter which is on a more established footing.
Various similarities can be observed in the growth of chemical engineering and project management disciplines. There is commonality of processes across industrial sectors, the struggle for acceptance as a generic discipline, the date-wise similarities of happenings and the interface with product development and management.
A principal development in chemical engineering has been emergence of the concept of ’unit operations’ and this led to its widespread development. Other milestones in its development included the understanding of transport phenomena the interface with biological sciences.
Project management has largely been applied in project situations whether it is construction, engineering, information technology or social initiatives. To some extent, it has also been used in product development, as part of R & D. There is an attempt to align it with product management which is a discipline by itself and has a different emphasis than project management. Many organizations in the IT sector struggle to utilize project management principles effectively for product development within the organization against implementing a project for an external customer. In future one would expect project management being applied for more product situations in addition to large scale projects.
Reference
R, Rao Project Management & Chemical Engineering PM World Journal Vol. V, Issue III — March 2016 www.pmworldjournal.net
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