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Publishing
Publishing
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There is an expression “publish or perish” that is often used when referring to professors, particularly at the graduate-school level. While engineers, scientists, and technicians in industry are generally not evaluated based on their publishing efforts, there are advantages that may not be obvious. Often articles appearing in trade or industry magazines or journals are authored by subscribers of the publication, consulting engineers, and equipment operators/users. These articles address technical solutions, products, product features, or calculations that are relevant to the magazine subject matter—equipment, chemical processes, instrumentation, or structures. Examples of these trade magazines are: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Electronic Design, Energy & Environment, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Machine Design, Chemical Engineering, and many others. Commonly known in academia as a thesis, papers are prepared, published, distributed, and sometimes presented and defended in a technical conference or forum. In industry, papers are prepared and presented at conferences conducted by societies or associations. The technical information contained in the papers may eventually lead to the development of industry standards. There are four reasons why it is important for technical personnel to prepare magazine articles or papers: 1. The process of preparing articles or papers is a unique learning experience for the author(s). In order to prepare technical articles, it is necessary to conduct a certain amount of research, calculations, testing, and organizing them in a coherent readable format. This may be accomplished by one individual or even a team of technical personnel. A test facility may be necessary to prove a phenomena or performance prediction. A judgment must be made as to whether revealing the subject matter makes good business sense: Does it divulge company proprietary information? Does it give the competition an unfair advantage? 2. They provide company product recognition. During the course of developing a multistage packaged air compressor at SFH, we utilized a finned tube, water to air inter stage cooler manufactured by a sister division of the corporation. The design was the same as used in the mass production of air conditioning equipment and was therefore relatively inexpensive. We needed a calculation procedure to convert the performance of the coolers from one set of cooling water and air conditions (in the lab) to a different set of conditions (the customer’s site).
I identified the necessary equations to make the performance conversion using dimensionless numbers and we incorporated the procedure into a computer performance prediction program for the air compressor. This program enabled us to quote the air compressor performance based on the customer’s site conditions: temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity. I decided to prepare a technical article describing the prediction procedure which was later published in Chemical Engineering Technical Career Survival Handbook. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809372-6.00067-0 Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Technical Career Survival Handbook
magazine. We purchased reprints of the article and passed them out as sales literature in order to promote the product line. The article served to provide credibility to the product as we began to penetrate a market for our new line of air compressors. Unfortunately, after several years of production, a management decision canceled the product line due to the high cost to manufacture the product in spite of several attempts at cost reduction. 3. They provide individual recognition. While employed by SFH, we developed a high speed pump for the American Petroleum Industry (API) that operated in a high-flow region that previously had not been available. We achieved this performance utilizing an axial impeller seal that operated with only a few thousandths of an inch clearance while rotating at speeds up to 8000 rpm. The seal was later patented. I compiled a technical paper pertaining to the design and performance of the new product being careful not to reveal company propriety information. I submitted the paper at the annual Industrial Energy Technology Conference and exhibition in Houston, Texas and I was asked to present the paper at the meeting. I gave thanks and credit to our marketing services group. They did an excellent job formatting the paper to include many illustrations and cutaways making it a very successful and memorable effort. 4. The articles provide free advertising. Trade magazines like those mentioned in the preceding paragraphs typically solicit articles from companies offering related products. I prepared technical articles for several of my employers that appeared in publications and reached our target market readership. Not only were the articles published at no charge, often the publisher would a pay an honorarium to the contributor. Concurrent with the article, usually two to three pages describing the subject product, my employer would then place a subtle ¼ page paid advertisement adjacent to the article so that the reader knew where to purchase the product or service featured in the article. We were successful in generating many sales leads in this manner.
Caution: be certain to obtain company approval for any written or oral material presented to be certain trade secret information is not conveyed. Additionally, beware of revealing any confidential marketing data and/or strategies to the public. Also be prepared to “defend” your publications as you will get questioned on the content particularly if it covers new or controversial material. Song: “Glory Days” As popularized by: Bruce Springsteen 1984
67
There is an expression “publish or perish” that is often used when referring to professors, particularly at the graduate-school level. While engineers, scientists, and technicians in industry are generally not evaluated based on their publishing efforts, there are advantages that may not be obvious. Often articles appearing in trade or industry magazines or journals are authored by subscribers of the publication, consulting engineers, and equipment operators/users. These articles address technical solutions, products, product features, or calculations that are relevant to the magazine subject matter—equipment, chemical processes, instrumentation, or structures. Examples of these trade magazines are: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Electronic Design, Energy & Environment, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Machine Design, Chemical Engineering, and many others. Commonly known in academia as a thesis, papers are prepared, published, distributed, and sometimes presented and defended in a technical conference or forum. In industry, papers are prepared and presented at conferences conducted by societies or associations. The technical information contained in the papers may eventually lead to the development of industry standards. There are four reasons why it is important for technical personnel to prepare magazine articles or papers: 1. The process of preparing articles or papers is a unique learning experience for the author(s). In order to prepare technical articles, it is necessary to conduct a certain amount of research, calculations, testing, and organizing them in a coherent readable format. This may be accomplished by one individual or even a team of technical personnel. A test facility may be necessary to prove a phenomena or performance prediction. A judgment must be made as to whether revealing the subject matter makes good business sense: Does it divulge company proprietary information? Does it give the competition an unfair advantage? 2. They provide company product recognition. During the course of developing a multistage packaged air compressor at SFH, we utilized a finned tube, water to air inter stage cooler manufactured by a sister division of the corporation. The design was the same as used in the mass production of air conditioning equipment and was therefore relatively inexpensive. We needed a calculation procedure to convert the performance of the coolers from one set of cooling water and air conditions (in the lab) to a different set of conditions (the customer’s site).
I identified the necessary equations to make the performance conversion using dimensionless numbers and we incorporated the procedure into a computer performance prediction program for the air compressor. This program enabled us to quote the air compressor performance based on the customer’s site conditions: temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity. I decided to prepare a technical article describing the prediction procedure which was later published in Chemical Engineering Technical Career Survival Handbook. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809372-6.00067-0 Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
170
Technical Career Survival Handbook
magazine. We purchased reprints of the article and passed them out as sales literature in order to promote the product line. The article served to provide credibility to the product as we began to penetrate a market for our new line of air compressors. Unfortunately, after several years of production, a management decision canceled the product line due to the high cost to manufacture the product in spite of several attempts at cost reduction. 3. They provide individual recognition. While employed by SFH, we developed a high speed pump for the American Petroleum Industry (API) that operated in a high-flow region that previously had not been available. We achieved this performance utilizing an axial impeller seal that operated with only a few thousandths of an inch clearance while rotating at speeds up to 8000 rpm. The seal was later patented. I compiled a technical paper pertaining to the design and performance of the new product being careful not to reveal company propriety information. I submitted the paper at the annual Industrial Energy Technology Conference and exhibition in Houston, Texas and I was asked to present the paper at the meeting. I gave thanks and credit to our marketing services group. They did an excellent job formatting the paper to include many illustrations and cutaways making it a very successful and memorable effort. 4. The articles provide free advertising. Trade magazines like those mentioned in the preceding paragraphs typically solicit articles from companies offering related products. I prepared technical articles for several of my employers that appeared in publications and reached our target market readership. Not only were the articles published at no charge, often the publisher would a pay an honorarium to the contributor. Concurrent with the article, usually two to three pages describing the subject product, my employer would then place a subtle ¼ page paid advertisement adjacent to the article so that the reader knew where to purchase the product or service featured in the article. We were successful in generating many sales leads in this manner.
Caution: be certain to obtain company approval for any written or oral material presented to be certain trade secret information is not conveyed. Additionally, beware of revealing any confidential marketing data and/or strategies to the public. Also be prepared to “defend” your publications as you will get questioned on the content particularly if it covers new or controversial material. Song: “Glory Days” As popularized by: Bruce Springsteen 1984