WHAT DOES A PROCESS ENGINEER DO?
Updated: Jun 13, 2025 - The Process Engineer establishes process engineering methods, principles, and approaches from requirements to final design and verification, ensuring manufacturability and safety of CMSR systems. This position develops and manages comprehensive design documents and calculations, adhering to regulatory standards and design codes like ASME and ANSI. This role coordinates multidisciplinary collaboration and testing programs to optimize equipment design and qualification.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Process Engineer
1. Process Engineer Duties
- Compliance and Implementation: Implement all expectations as communicated by chapter owners.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the role and responsibility of individuals to comply with EHSS expectations.
- EHSS Audits and Assessments: Ensure EHSS meetings, assessments, and audits in the area.
- Training Coordination: Ensure people attend EHSS training as per the plan.
- Guidance and Performance Tracking: Guide area members to understand EHSS expectations and track performance on implementation.
- Process Improvement and Metrics: Support value creation efforts by analyzing process performance and developing key metrics to promote process improvement in safety, environmental, production, quality, value, and yield performance.
- Quality Monitoring: Monitor product quality and contribute to the overall direction and success of the mill.
- Production Supervision: Supervise and coordinate production efforts that result in sustained improvement in all associated work processes, including Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Compliance, Reliability, Quality, Production, and Costs.
- Data Analytics and Problem-Solving: Use data analytics and a structured approach to problem-solving.
- Operations Optimization: Develop and apply strategies to optimize ongoing operations using the automation platform in conjunction with the operations, maintenance, and engineering teams at the mill.
- Collaboration and Execution Strategy: Collaborate with key site and divisional personnel to value and prioritize identified opportunities and outline execution strategies accordingly.
2. Process Engineer Details
- Deviation and CAPA Management: Initiation and completion of deviations, remedial actions, CAPAs, and other quality system documentation.
- Change and Design Control Compliance: Adhere to the Change Control and Design Control requirements.
- Manufacturing Validation: Control and direct manufacturing validation efforts for existing and new processes.
- Process Improvement Team Participation: An active member of the multifunctional process and production improvement team.
- Lean Manufacturing Implementation: Application of world-class manufacturing tools and techniques (Lean, ME2) within aligned process areas.
- Process Improvement Execution: Actively drives process improvement projects to achieve site targets, including problem identification and resolution to root cause.
- Process Excellence Leadership: Leadership and coordination of onsite Process Excellence initiatives and activities, including certification, re-certification, and promotion of Process Excellence awareness on site.
- Technology and Equipment Evaluation: Input into machinery purchases, investigating new technologies for existing processes.
- Regulatory and Safety Compliance: Follow and promote Company, Health, Safety, and Environmental (HS&E) and Quality standards to enable the site to achieve and maintain excellent results.
- Project Management: Liaise with outside contractors while leading projects from conception to commissioning and handover.
3. Process Engineer Responsibilities
- Project Management: Participate in or manage different improvement (multidisciplinary) projects at all stages.
- Functional Specifications Development: Make functional specifications, including related documents.
- Testing and Reporting: Carry out tests, including reporting results.
- Failure Analysis and Improvement: Perform data-based failure analyses that result in solutions and improvement actions.
- Standard Operating Procedure Development: Draw up standard operating procedures.
- Measurement and Risk Analysis: Determine measurement and control systems and draw up associated risk analyses.
- Stakeholder Communication: Maintain contact with various stakeholders inside and outside the organization.
- Process and Product Improvement: Prioritize, evaluate, and drive proposed cross-functional/regional improvement projects (as champion or core team member) to processes and products based on analysis of environmental, health and safety requirements, product quality needs, and costs.
- Manufacturing Process Optimization: Develop, troubleshoot, and refine manufacturing processes and new equipment.
- Experimental Design and Analysis: Design, execute, and analyze experiments/trials and make decisions based on statistical techniques.
- Process Variation Monitoring: Develop a mechanism to understand and monitor process variation.
- Validation and Commercialization: Plan and conduct product, process, and/or equipment validation in accordance with validation practices to support new product commercialization.
- Technical Documentation: Document work via reports, technology notebooks, quality systems, and design file entries.
4. Process Engineer Job Summary
- Process Engineering Methods: Establish methods, principles, and approaches for carrying out process engineering.
- Process System Design: Design reliable and safe process systems and sub-systems from requirements through final design and verification.
- Compliance and Manufacturability: Ensure compliance, manufacturability, and compatibility of CMSR systems, continuously and iteratively revisiting requirements, interfaces, drawing annotations, etc.
- Design Code Application: Identify and ensure effective application of appropriate design codes such as ASME, ANSI, etc.
- Regulatory Compliance: Analyze and apply regulatory criteria and standards to complex process designs.
- Design Planning and Scheduling: Participate in planning efforts and maintain a schedule for design activities.
- Work Package Management: Create and manage work packages of process system designs.
- Technical Documentation: Produce and review technical design documents, such as System Design Descriptions, Equipment Lists, Data Sheets, Technical Reports, Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), etc.
- Process Design Calculations: Produce and review process design calculations, including mass balances and hydraulics.
- Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Lead and collaborate with other disciplines such as mechanical design, instrumentation and controls, and neutronics to identify and/or develop equipment design information and specifications.
- Equipment Qualification Testing: Plan and coordinate testing programs for equipment qualification.
5. Process Engineer Accountabilities
- Process Engineering Services: Provide engineering services around process design, engineering analysis, unit modeling, troubleshooting, and optimization.
- Advanced Process Modeling: Apply science and engineering fundamentals to provide innovative solutions to CPChem operations and risk management decisions.
- Process Subject Matter Expertise: Provide expertise in plant troubleshooting, EHS, PSM, and Operational Excellence activities with CFD as a core competency.
- Technology Evaluation: Evaluate new process technologies to identify opportunities for CPChem.
- Teamwork and Collaboration: Employ teamwork skills with a demonstrated ability to contribute to cross-functional teams to meet business and technical objectives.
- Stakeholder Relationship Management: Build and maintain relationships with peers, clients, and business partners.
- Technical Communication: Utilize proficient oral and written communication skills to effectively communicate in technical and nontechnical business environments.
- Process Flow Determination: Determine process steps and flow to move from inputs to expected output.
- Process Methodology Selection: Determine the method to complete each process step (e.g., machine-based, people-based, or a combination).
- Process Tools and Documentation: Provide and maintain tools to perform each process step (e.g., SOPs, tooling, training).
- Process Monitoring and Improvement: Monitor and continuously improve processes to ensure expected output targets or implement corrective actions.
- Data Collection and Analysis: Provide detailed data collection and analysis, including time studies, material flow, and waste analysis.