Chapter List

INTRODUCTION

The degree of success of a plant engineer will be measured not by his or her ability to recite equations, balance budgets, complete capital projects, or maintain equipment, but by the ability to lead others in the face of insufficient personnel, resources, and time to do the job comfortably. In years past, internal workloads determined our pace of progress. Today, external information and customer demands drive behavior and pace. In order to successfully manage information and lead people, plant engineers must:

• Be a part of the management team

• Know the workforce culture

• Understand and implement strategic planning

• Thrive, not survive

How one goes about addressing and prioritizing these concepts will determine the success or failure of the organization.

THE MANAGEMENT TEAM

The term management is misleading because it implies that one is managing people. In fact, people don t follow people (managers), they follow vision. Therefore, the key to a successful management team is not in its ability to tell people what to do but in its ability to help them align their vision with that of the overall organization.

It has been said that organizations are much like people. Both have five senses: purpose, community, urgency, responsibility, and commitment. A sense of purpose refers to mission and vision. As a plant engineer, you need to ask yourself...