Technical Service' C . W . RIPPIE Diamond Alkali Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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HIS symposium appears to be the first one conducted by the Chemical Education section to consider the industrial demands for nonlaboratory chemists. I t is interesting to note that industrial men have presented papers in this section during the past several years to point out the demands of industry for certain types of training so that edncators would have a better picture of the duties of the professional laboratory chemist. 'when the chemist has extensive experience in the manufacture of products, some companies transfer or promote such adaptable technical men to nonlaboratory positions to assist the sales development of these products. On the other hand, some companies obtain advantages in sales service by selecting trained men experienced in the industry which use their chemical products. Most nonlaboratory men come from these two sources, since academic training is usually not sufficient although essentially basic for satisfactory accomplishments. Technical service may be defined as all kinds of assistance given the customer by the producer of a chemical product. As many different interpretations and activities come under technical service as there are companies which employ this method of introducing and assisting the consumption of their products. Broadly speaking, the technical service of the chemical producing company cooperates with its customer on the commercial application of products in order to promote and to maintain business. The duties of technical service men include all activities that the manufacturing and sales departments of a company do not normally include for the benefit of the customer. Such activities of the manufacturing department are concerned with the quality, unloading, and storage of the product, which contribute to the satisfaction of a customer. Factory men concerned with these activities are best qualified to improve plant Presented before the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, 107th meeting, Cleveland, Ohio. April 3. 1944.
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operations to handle these problems. All other technical service duties pertain to sales development work connected with the sales department. Since the sales division is usually the only Contact with the consumer i t is quite natural that the sales department is the first to know what problems are submitted by the customer; so sales departments usually supervise all activities of technical service. Accordingly, the manufacturing and laboratory divisions cooperate with sales through the nonlaboratory chemist to give the necessary assistance requested or offered relative to quality, shipment, or consumption of the product. In order to illustrate such duties of technical service for the edncators the following examples are drawn from industrial experience so that some phases can be appreciated in this service field. The sales department of a large chemical company found that their tonnageof caustic soda was decreasing in the petroleum refining industry. The sales department investigated the causes, found that more economical treating processes were reducing the use of caustic soda, and that their laboratory did not have the necessary experience in the application of caustic soda to meet these competitive conditions. Therefore the chemical company approached the management of a major petroleum refining company in order to obtain experienced and chemically trained personnel who could assist in the sales development of caustic soda in the petroleum industry. This exchange of personnel maintains good relations between industries. Here is an example of the way in which technical service personnel is developed and today supplies many specialized men in all industries. I t is generally recognized that competitive quality products seek some marginal difference so that the purchaser prefers one brand in the markets. The nonlaboratory chemist worked out this marginal difference by finding out how caustic soda could reduce the costs of treating processes and thus gain sufficient favor among oil companies to merit their caustic soda business. The nonlahoratory chemist knew the first published
paper ( 1 ) which reported the reasons that certain sulfur compounds inoreased the costs of treating gasoline. It was known that caustic soda treatment of gasoline removed some of these sulfur compounds but no analytical test was available to determine what percentage of sulfur compounds could be removed. A modified procedure was then worked out to show the efficiency of caustic soda removal of sulfur compounds and thereby decrease the over-all treating costs of gasoline. Technical service carried this advantage of caustic soda treatment to oil refiners by field trips, papers a t meetings of oil refiners, and by promoting the installations of commercial operating plants. The nonlaboratory chemist assisted the technical staffs of the oil companies to evaluate the application of caustic soda and to design suitable equipment to reduce treating costs of gasoline. For example, savings of caustic soda treatment of gasoline were calculated as so many dollars per thousand barrels of gasoline, based on lahoratory and engine tests. The payout time of such caustic soda treating plants of gasoline was favorable enough to influence the purchase of caustic soda among an increased number of oil refiners. The sales of caustic soda more than doubled in the competitive market over sever21 years so that technical service paid dividends to this chemical company which was formerly losing tonnage and profits in the oil industry. It is apparent that the educators should provide sound analytical chemical training so that cost estimates can be based on percentages of chemicals consumed in an industrial operation. Another example of the industrial demand for the nonlaboratory chemist came to light when the sales department was not able to adapt flake potassium hydroxide to drying compressed air in the manufacture of oxygen gas. This industry used walnut-size potassium hydroxide successfully but found trouble with flaked potassium hydroxide in the drying towers. The sales department turned this problem over to the technical service department which investigated the drying of gases ( 2 ) . The application of perforated plates to support flaked potash in the drying towers eliminated the trouble and increased the former plant operating cycle from one week to four weeks. An acid titration with phenolphthalein and Congo red indicators was adopted to control the alkali solution used for removal of carbon dioxide from the air prior to flake potash drying operation. The savings of chemicals and the increased cycle of plant operation resulted in customer preference for flaked potash. Here again the educator recognizes the same type of training for critical evaluation of a process based on accurate analytical data of the operation. Some companies maintain a technical service laboratory in which the technical service men carry out the field problems for their customers. On the other hand, some companies prefer to submit field problems to their regular lahoratory organization and issue reports
through their technical service departments. The general idea is to correlate the laboratory experience of both the chemical producing company and the customer. The size of the field of technical service is increasing with the number of chemical producing companies in the country. Roth heavy and fine chemical manufacturing companies maintain some type of technical s e n ice for their customers. One large chemical manufacturer has a technical service department of over a hundred men who develop new fields of application of the products produced by the research department. Another chemical company maintains a technical service staff which works in the plant or laboratories of their customers. The wide latitude of the field of operating technical service is thus seen in these two companies. The editor of Industrd and Engineering Chemistry reported to several sections of the American Chemical Society that the technical man must now contribute to sales and service as well as to research in the chemical industry. The respective success of a chemical company necessitates a sales-minded service group. A recent editorial 13) estimates that the present demands of chemical engineers for the technical service will increase in postwar chemical industries. Recently, technical service representatives of chemical producing companies met to exchange ideas and to discuss general typical problems of mutual interest. These discussions included specific examples of tecbnical service in all the phases of development of a given prodnct from the laboratory to sales application. Such meetings provide personal contacts through the chemical industries which may develop many benefits for the company. Competitive conditions in the industry favor increased trained personnel in the chemical producing industries. Gradually these men may become a part of the regular sales staff to continue sales contacts for the benefit of the company as well as themselves. Recently one chemical company transferred several chemists as nonlaboratory purchasing representatives to obtain the best possible products on the markets and to contact trained sales representatives of their suppliers. Sales personality is an essential requirement of technical service personnel to contact the technical staff of consuming companies. Such men are usually paid more than corresponding laboratory positions in order to attract qualified personnel. In co~iclusion,it is hoped that educators may evaluate more favorably the field of technical service as a career for nonlaboratory chemists in the manufacturing and selling of chemical products in American industries. LITERATURE CITED
Ind. Eng. Chem., 25, 187 (1) HEEL, RENDEL,AND GARTON. (1933). (2) PERRY,"Chemical Engineen' Handbaok." McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. 1934, p. 1261. (3) Chem. &Met. Eng., 51, 119 11944).
