Our Process Engineering team has amassed a huge store of insight, experience and market analysis during their time at DATS. The team specialises in Chemical and Process Engineering; here are some of their thoughts on what the industry holds for clients and candidates…

When we talk about Chemical and Process Engineering professionals, we actually mean the experts who design, implement, control or optimise industrial processes. Process development never really stops. Chemical/Process Engineers provide the chemical or biochemical processes and equipment that are used to turn raw materials into an end product. This is an essential part of the manufacturing industry.

Chemicals are a large (and growing) part of this engineering specialism. Our candidates need to know the properties of what’s being changed, as well as how to track those changes.

New process plants aren’t as abundant anymore

One of the key things we’ve learned is just how much the sector has shifted from Greenfield Projects to Brownfield with most client focused on developing existing infrastructure.

Front-End Design Engineers aren’t as prevalent today as they were a decade ago, the focus seems to have moved away from chemical and process engineers who are only focused on design to engineers who are more focused on the whole cycle, able to work across design through to commissioning and then improvement. Still, around 1 in 10 engineers are Process experts – they’re focusing on chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemicals projects, often starting off on a graduate programme through their Chemical Engineering degree. Large employers within the Northwest still operate excellent graduate schemes and will normally take a graduate engineer on once a year.

Part of the switch stems from a reduced interest in fossil fuels and the oil crash. The price of Oil fell to a level where it was no longer economically viable for the UK and some parts of Europe to produce oil