Final answer:
Dow Chemical's provision of engineering drawings on its extranet likely improves the engineering design process, aligning with economies of scale in chemical production.
Step-by-step explanation:
Dow Chemical enabling each customer to access its engineering drawings on the company's extranet is likely considered an enhancement to the engineering design process. Allowing seamless access to these important documents can greatly increase efficiency and reduce time in the design stages of a project. This aligns with the concept of economies of scale in chemical production, where cost savings and efficiency improvements are realized through increasing the scale of operation, as exemplified by the fact that a doubling of the cost of producing the pipe can result in the capability to process four times as much material.
This concept is known as customer self-service. Dow chemical's extranet allows customers to access their engineering drawings, which speeds up the design process for every project. By providing customers with direct access to the drawings, Dow chemical reduces the need for back-and-forth communication and gives customers more control over the design process.