Process/service industries performance

There is no doubt that supply chain order fulfilment is the Achilles heel of the e-business economy. At the end of every e-commerce, on-line trading and virtual supply chain there is a factory, a warehouse and a transport. Internet has elevated the performance of information accessibility, currency transactions and data accuracy, but the real effectiveness of supply chain from the source to customer cannot be achieved without the physical efficiency of the supply chain. Web-based software and e-market places are increasing the alternatives available to e-supply chain managers in aU operations including the service industry. More opportunities may also mean more options and complexity. Therefore, it is vital that a process is in place to ensure the performance of e-supply chain for both virtual and physical activities. 

Another impetus to expansion of this field was the advent of World War 11 and the development of the atomic bomb. The desired isotope of uranium, in the form of UF was prepared by a gaseous diffusion separation process of the mixed isotopes (see Fluorine). UF is extremely reactive and required contact with inert organic materials as process seals and greases. The wartime Manhattan Project successfully developed a family of stable materials for UF service. These early materials later evolved into the current fluorochemical and fluoropolymer materials industry. A detailed description of the fluorine research performed on the Manhattan Project has been pubUshed (2). 

A combination of excellent chemical and mechanical properties at elevated temperatures results in rehable, high performance service to the chemical processing and related industries. Chemical inertness, heat resistance, toughness and flexibiUty, stress-crack resistance, excellent flex life, antistick characteristics, Htfle moisture absorption, nonflammability, and exceptional dielectric properties are among the characteristics of these resins. 

Chemical Properties. A combination of excellent chemical and mechanical properties at elevated temperatures result in high performance service in the chemical processing industry. Teflon PEA resins have been exposed to a variety of organic and inorganic compounds commonly encountered in chemical service (26). They are not attacked by inorganic acids, bases, halogens, metal salt solutions, organic acids, and anhydrides. Aromatic and ahphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, ethers, amines, esters, chlorinated compounds, and other polymer solvents have Httle effect. However, like other perfluorinated polymers,they react with alkah metals and elemental fluorine. 

For most applications, the balanced, o-ring cartridge seal will adequately handle every pump, liquid, and condition in a modern industrial process plant. There are, however, some industrial pumping applications that will present problems to even the best of mechanical seals. Should one of these applications cause the seal to give less than desirable performance, the next step to take in extending the service life of the seal (and ultimately the pump) is to install some type of environmental control to protect and isolate the seal components from the fluid. Let s consider some difficult sealing applications. 

Fans (or blowers) of large volumes for industrial applications are usually applied to air service, and essentially all manufacturer s performance data/charts/tables are so referenced to standard air however, they can be readily adapted to chemical/petrochemical process applications in which relatively large volumes of clean gas mixtures are processed at low pressures. ... 

Wood, one of people s oldest materials, remains an important (and too often, overlooked) corrosion-resistant material of construction in the chemical-process industry. Wood tanks and wood piping have long met engineers requirements for dependable service and excellent performance in industrial applications. A very thorough and detailed treatise can be found in a three-part publication, by Oliver W. Siebert, Wood—Nature s High-Performance Material, NACE, Materials Ferformance, vol. 31, nos. 1-3, January through March 1992. ... 

OSHA/USEPA requires employers, such as the chemical industry service sector, to perform an initial process hazard analysis (PHA) on processes covered by PSM/RMP standards. The PHA must be appropriate to the complexity of the process and must identify, evaluate, and control the hazards involved in the process. Employers are required to determine and document the priority order for conducting process hazard analyses based on a rationale that includes such considerations as extent of the process hazards, number of potentially affected employees, age of the process, and operating history of the process. 

Our example uses the data from Bowman and Narayandas (2004). The customer firms are more than 300 industrial customers of firms that provide metal processing, fabrication, and distribution services. The customer firms are in industries that include manufacturing, construction, transportation, aerospace, and electrical. As a group, these customers use over sixty different vendors. A sponsoring vendor firm provided financial data and details of its efforts at the customer account level, enabling us to link vendor resource commitments to vendor performance and customer profitability. 

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