Welcome to the Process Perspective Newsletter

Marty Schad here. Welcome to The Process Perspective, my weekly thoughts and musings about the craft called “Process Engineering”. “Process Engineering” strives to create robust and dependable processes that always work for the customers, 100% of the time. The process is subtle and unseen, compared to the equipment, which is self-evident. Here’s an example of this in the real world. I was working once with a large global manufacturer who was testing new innovative hard disk-substrate materials (aluminum is the standard material for this application). I was responsible for heat-treating this ceramic disk while keeping it very flat: this flatness was imperative to have the next process, finishing, work well and be low-cost. The flatness target was 10 micrometers, about the diameter of a red blood cell! We tested many concepts and materials for processing these ceramic disks while keeping them very flat. Through extensive process engineering focus, we identified, tested, patented and scaled-up a process that consistently and repeatedly achieved the desired flatness target. This “flat disk” process was a big success because it enabled a low-cost downstream finishing process. Process engineering concerns itself with the process happening inside the equipment. This generally involves the transformation of raw material into a finished product via a series of steps such as mixing, melting, pressing, casting, forming, etc. I sometimes think of the process as being the unseen soul of the manufacturing operation: you cannot see it, but you know it’s important. If the engineering fundamentals are well designed and managed, a smooth-running process is a “thing of beauty” and a genuine competitive advantage. If the process is incapable with poor design and fundamentals, the fanciest equipment in the world will not improve its performance. Strong-robust-high yielding manufacturing processes have a tremendous positive impact on a company, its employees, and its customers. The quality and strength of your processes matters wherever manufacturing for a customer is happening. The manufacturing can range from simple to complex, but the core dependence on strong processes is unchanging and indisputable. There is no substitute for a strong process, and no customer wants to depend on a manufacturer using weak processes.

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Why should this matter to you? If you are involved in research or in manufacturing, you “own” and are responsible for some processes that the business depends on. What processes are important to your businesses? How many processes do you own and how robust are they? Are they flexible and meeting the customer demands and expectations? Are the processes your researchers are developing strong enough and well-understood enough to scale effectively and reliably to manufacturing? I challenge you to think about your manufacturing and research efforts and give some thought to core processes you own and how robust, reliable, and flexible they are. Great and profitable manufacturing businesses use great processes to consistently deliver products to their customers.

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I hope you enjoy The Process Perspective. You’ll receive my weekly email every week and I welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can help your organization create dramatic success in accelerating the commercialization of your research concepts and in improving your manufacturing processes. As always, you can just contact me and I’ll get back to you promptly.

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All the best, Marty