为了能对流程制造业未来的发展方向有更加深刻的认识，本文从流程制造业中各行业的共性特点出发，将分析的视角从单一行业拓展到整个流程制造业，立足于热力学和熵等概念，对流程的本质及本质性特征进行了清晰深入的分析研究，构建了以“流”–“程”、“物质”–“能量”–“信息”、“规模”–“效率”三组重要因素为主的本质性分析框架，并对化工流程和磷化工流程案例进行了本质性分析。结果表明流程制造业发展的根本方向是要追求整体系统的熵增量趋向最小，而不是仅追求流程系统的熵减而忽视了外部环境系统中产生的熵增。要使整体系统的熵增趋向最小，不仅要关注流程系统的经济效益，同时也要提高资源和能源、环境效率。效率的提升本质上需要技术的改进、升级、创新来提供支撑，在流程系统中技术的改进升级可以小幅度提升流程系统的效率，而将颠覆性创新技术引入流程系统则可能使效率大幅度提升。

Process manufacturing is an important pillar of China's economic development, and its orderly and healthy development is of great significance to China’s economic and social development. However, the development of process manufacturing is constrained by its enormous consumption of resources and energy and its serious environmental impact. To reach a deeper understanding of the future development of process manufacturing, this study extends an analytical perspective from a single industry to all forms of process manufacturing. Based on the concepts of thermodynamics and entropy, this study analyzes the essence of process manufacturing. Three groups of key factors are used to build the analysis framework: flow and process; material, energy, and information; and scale and efficiency. A chemical engineering process and a phosphorus chemical process are then analyzed using this framework. The results show that the fundamental direction of the development of process manufacturing is to minimize the entropy increments of the whole system, rather than only those of the process system, while ignoring the entropy increments of the system of the external environment. In order to minimize the entropy increments of the whole system, it is necessary not only to pay attention to the economic benefits of the process system, but also to improve resource, energy, and environmental efficiency. To improve efficiency, the technology involved requires improvement, upgrading, and innovation. Improving and upgrading the technology can slightly improve the efficiency of a process system, while revolutionary innovation in the technology may greatly improve the efficiency.