Posts Tagged ‘Control Loop Performance’
Who Benefits from Process Control Training?
No surprise, as the demographics of industrial automation continue to shift a graying workforce is giving way to a younger, greener one. More and more staff are retiring just as the “automation oracles” predicted. In tandem with that trend investments in training and skills development are recovering from previously reduced, recessionary levels. With those budgets being restored some somewhat surprising questions keep popping up: How should process manufacturers apply their newly reinstated funds? Who should attend?
Read MoreWhy Does Control Loop Performance Change Over Time? What is Time Variant Behavior?
You visit a doctor annually for a physical examination. Your car gets an oil change every 3,000 miles. Your company assesses profit versus loss every 3 months. The list of routine “check ups” goes on and on. Why? Because such things are important and they change over time. It’s valuable both to appraise their relative health and to determine what adjustments may be necessary. As the foundation for regulatory control at most production facilities, PID control loops are no different.
Read MoreHow Should Control Loop Performance Issues Be Prioritized?
There are many paths to Heaven or so the saying goes. With a growing array of automation technologies, such a philosophical expression can be applied to process control and plant-wide optimization. Whether the goal is focused on uptime, throughput, or quality, control loop monitoring and diagnostic solutions provide meaningful insight into a facility’s performance. The insights gained from these technologies enable practitioners to proactively address bothersome issues before they become costly problems, and lead somewhere other than Heaven.
Read MoreHow Do I Isolate the Root-Cause of Control Loop Performance Issues?
Finding controller performance issues in a typical production facility is not hard, but isolating and correcting their root-cause can present real challenges. Ask around stories abound of production staff who tune a PID control loop or re-pack a valve but ultimately fail to correct their problem. What may seem like the source of a performance problem is often little more than a symptom.
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