Process Optimization...Has Its Time Finally Come?

Last week, I went to Cleveland, and visited ControlSoft. ControlSoft has been around for well over a decade, now, producing loop tuning and process optimization products. I had a discussion with Paul Botzman, Claude Flandro, and Dr. Alireza Valizadeh, the technical development manager. We talked about the need for more and more smart tools, like those that ControlSoft makes. Ali Valizadeh made the point that process improvement tools make a terrific addition to a preventive maintenance process. I agree with him, but I think that one of the things that is bound to happen is that tools like these are going to wind up like spell checkers in word processing software...embedded into the rest of the control and process optimization system. This doesn't mean I think ControlSoft will go away, because I don't. What I do think is that they will do nothing but grow, as the need for these tools grows.I think they've stayed on the forefront of process optimization tools, not by selling screwdrivers, but by providing cutting edge software...and it may not matter whose private label it winds up under, or if they sell bigger packages on their own. Why will the need grow? Because the original process optimization tool was the informed and experienced engineer/operator. And, frankly, they don't exist at the plant level any more. This is why my bet is on the small science companies like ControlSoft. They are going to have to stand in, where we used to have people who could look at a plant and know, and know that if you turned this valve a hair to the right, and moved this VFD to 43.5% instead of 50%, and dialed back on additive X, no matter what the recipe called for, you made the best product with the highest throughput your plant could make.