Contact Information

Phone: (610) 758-4461
FAX: (610) 758-5057
e-mail:vince.grassi@lehigh.edu

Biography

Dr. Grassi joined Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in 1978 as a participant in the company’s Career Development Program. Following initial assignments in management information technology and chemicals manufacturing, he became a process engineer within the company’s Process Systems Group in 1980. In 1985 Dr. Grassi was named senior principal process engineer for the chemicals process technology department, and in 1990 became an engineering manager within the department. He was appointed senior engineering manager for the chemicals product supply team, global engineering in 2000. He was appointed Global Director, Knowledge Management in February 2001. In this position, Dr. Grassi led a center of excellence that was responsible for ensuring that knowledge sharing and transfer processes are integrated into the new Air Products process enterprise business process design. He was appointed to his current position in 2004 as Director, Global Learning and Knowledge Management. Dr. Grassi is responsible for the development and implementation of a consistent strategy for organizational learning across the enterprise and the company’s knowledge management strategy.

Dr. Grassi is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a member of the Computing and Systems division executive committee, which promotes the use of computer-based technologies and applications to benefit the chemical industry. Dr. Grassi is active in a number of consortia and professional forums involved with organizational learning and knowledge management in addition to his role as an adjunct faculty member.

Research and Teaching Interests

Integrated Process Design and Control
The industrial process design and control functions are becoming more integrated. Greater opportunities exist to prove plant operability early during the conceptual process design. This is becoming more important as customers demand greater supply reliability and consistent product quality. Globalization of chemical manufacturing creates an opportunity for those who can provide this capability a significant competitive advantage.

Educational Development
In order to grow chemical manufactures need to continue to move up the value chain. They must continually innovate new products and services in order to increase profit margins. A necessary condition to do this is to continually develop the talent of the people they have. Talent development has shifted from training employees within their field to learn from the experience of others. New partnerships must be formed with academia, outside firms, and benchmarking consortia. Thus, new methods of social networking, internet collaborative technologies, and informal methods of learning must be developed and deployed.