How to become an excellent process engineer—be willing to ask questions and dare to put things into practice

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I was born in the 1950s and have experienced working as a student worker, joining the military, and going to the countryside. After starting work, I worked as an operator at a state-owned pesticide factory; I was diligent in learning and improved my operational skills quite rapidly. Soon, rotations between different positions were initiated, and gradually, workers began to take turns on shift work. In 1979, I was admitted to the TV University to study electronics. After graduation, I returned to the factory as a process technician; due to a shortage of equipment technicians in the workshop, I also worked as an equipment technician for two years. Three years of working on the front line have given me better practical skills and self-learning abilities than other technicians, as well as the ability to love what I do. If you don’t understand something, learn it; as a equipment technician, I learned mechanical drawing, as well as the general principles and design of chemical processing equipment and chemical corrosion-resistant equipment. If I’m not sure, I’ll ask; I work on repairing pumps and machinery together with the maintenance staff, and I humbly learn from them about the structure, principles, and materials of the equipment. And completed part of the drive design for an automatic liquid pesticide filling production line. Later, as those in charge of process management were promoted to leadership positions, I returned to my role as a process technician. To work as a process technician, one must understand the principles of production processes; otherwise, when problems arise during production, they will be completely clueless and know nothing about how to deal with them. So, I went straight to the front-line operational positions and worked alongside the workers. In his free time, he self-studies topics such as principles of chemical engineering and principles of automatic control, and reads books on chemical process design and various standards that contain knowledge related to chemical processes. After two years of learning, I began to try making small improvements to the problems that arose in production, and these efforts were recognized by my supervisors and colleagues; I also received awards for technical innovation from both the factory and the chemical industry bureau. It has also organized the selection of topics for QC projects on multiple occasions, carried out their implementation, and participated in the evaluation of QC achievements, winning awards in the process. It has also participated on many occasions in the evaluation of the “41 Project” initiated by the Municipal Association for Science and Technology, and has received awards. Through continuous learning and practical experience, I have become proficient in tasks such as planning for new projects and imported projects, as well as in construction and commissioning, which has enabled me to be involved in more new projects. Participating in these projects greatly improved my professional skills, laying a solid foundation for my subsequent work in reviewing designs at design institutes, participating in safety inspections by regulatory authorities, and handling administrative licensing reviews. Based on my over forty years of work experience, I believe that to become an excellent process engineer one must be willing to learn humbly and not hesitate to ask for help, while also daring to put theory into practice. Only by continuous learning and practice can one broaden their horizons and accumulate experience. In other words, it is the continuous process of summarizing and improving, often referred to as \"from theory to practice, and then from practice to theory.\" Another point is to keep learning new knowledge and technologies; one should not be satisfied with the status quo, but rather dare to try new things and adopt the new concepts and equipment brought about by technological and material advancements in order to improve existing processes and equipment. To improve equipment, it is necessary to understand its structure and working principles; only then can one identify issues such as short service life, low efficiency, and high energy consumption in existing equipment, and address these problems effectively. I was the first in our company (in 1982) to use fluoroplastic alloy pumps instead of enamel pumps ； The first one (in 1991) modified the floating valve column using a screen to regulate the reagents, changing from intermittent distillation that had been used for a long time to continuous distillation ； The first (1994) Imperial shield pump introduced to Dalian ； The first to use domestic equipment to replace imported equipment. Of course, when submitting a feasibility report for technical upgrades for the first time, doubts from various parties will arise. You must be prepared to use technical data (such as the reliability and safety of the technology, the cost-effectiveness of investment, energy savings, and quality improvements) as well as relevant success stories to convince everyone, in order to get approval and proceed with the implementation. By resolving the technological issues in production, you can ensure that the quality, yield, energy consumption, level of automation, and safety of the relevant processing units are at advanced levels within the industry or in China; this will also greatly enhance your reputation within the company. Another point is to be good at summarizing successful experiences and using them to apply for various awards for technical advancement at the provincial, municipal, industry, and ** levels, in order to win honors and prestige for the company and oneself. Only by continuously scaling new heights in technical knowledge can a process technician achieve success and become a qualified one. Search