Plant Engineering

Plant engineering is that branch of engineering which embraces the installation, operation, maintenance, modification, modernization, and protection of physical facilities and equipment used to produce a product or provide a service. It is easier to describe plant engineering than to define it. Yet, the descriptions will vary from facility to facility and over time. Every successful plant is continuously changing, improving, expanding, and evolving. And the activities of the plant engineer must reflect this environment. Each plant engineer is likely to have his own, unique job description, and that description is likely to be different from the one he had five years earlier. 

By definition, the plant engineering function is multidisciplinary. It routinely incorporates the disciplines of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and civil engineering. Other disciplines, such as chemical engineering for example, may also be needed, depending on the type of industry or service involved. In addition, skills in business/financial management, personnel supervision, project management, contracting, and training are necessary to the successful fulfillment of plant engineering responsibilities. The function is fundamentally a technical one, requiring a thorough technical/engineering background through education and/or experience. But beyond it’s most basic level, a broad range of skills is needed. If the plant engineer is a specialist in anything, it is in his/her own plant or facility. 

Plant engineers must learn to know their own plants thoroughly, from the geology underlying its foundations and the topology of the rainwater runoff to the distribution of its electricity and the eccentricities of its production machinery. They must ensure the quality of the environment both inside and outside the facility as well as the safety and health of the employees and the reliability of its systems and equipment. And they are expected to do all of this in a cost-effective manner. A few phrases from a 1999 classified ad for a plant engineer provide some real-world insight on the scope of responsibilities: 

• Support ongoing operations, troubleshoot, resolve emergencies, implement shutdowns
• Organize and maintain information on plant systems/equipment and improvement programs
• Implement plant projects and maintain proper documentation 
• Deal effectively with multiple activities, requests, and emergencies
• Manage scope, design, specification, procurement, installation, startup, debugging, validation, training, and maintenance. 

To this list, most plant engineers would quickly add compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as well as accepted industry standards and practices. 

The primary mission of the plant engineer is to provide optimum plant and equipment facilities to meet the established objective of the business. This can be broken down into these four fundamental activities: 

(1) ensure the reliability of plant and equipment operation; 

(2) optimize maintenance and operating costs; 

(3) satisfy all safety, environmental, and other regulations; and 

(4) provide a strong element of both short term and long-range facilities and equipment planning.’ 

The description still rings true today