A common pattern when writing batch scripts importing huge number of existing data into an app is to write the batch script so that it can execute its work in parallel. Running the script with eg. 8 instances in parallel allows to finish the import task in a fraction of the time.
Depending on the platform in use, the developer might use forking, threading, pnctl and a myriad other techniques to achieve parallelism. There's no rocket science in that code, but it still quite a chore and bug-prone.

I suggest that the Sf Process component gets extended with a process manager class, which can be used to execute multiple processes in parallel.

Sample code - not based on Sf currently - is available at https://gist.github.com/gggeek/5956177 for discussion