Why automation isn't process control?

What's the difference and why should we care? To me, the epitome of automation is a bottling line, where thousands of containers are cleaned, filled with a delicious beverage and capped at a dizzying pace that is marvelous to behold. Now I've performed the same thing manually—clean, fill, cap put in a case—and the bottling line is pretty much doing exactly what I do manually. Every aspect of it can be precisely controlled because every aspect is precisely known, down to the beverage itself. There is "feedback" control in the servos that perform the various tasks, but they can be cranked up to blinding speeds because the motors and solenoids are engineered for a specific task. Because the things being "controlled" are engineered and manufactured, automation functions largely in an "open loop." It's just robotically doing a manual task, albeit in an amazing fashion.

What distinguishes process control? In the process industries, we do our share of automation. How many motor-operated valves (MOVs) do you have? Every control valve "positioner" is a "servo." But whether you're manipulating a control valve in a closed-loop PID scheme or manually turning a globe valve, chances are you're interacting with a process, manipulating a flow, temperature, pressure or level that will have some effect on, for example, a distillation column or a chemical reaction. Boiling hydrocarbons and reacting chemicals may obey well-known properties of physics, but they're rarely engineered or consistent enough to the extent one can rely solely on robotic automation.

key industries for process control systems – and how they’re used

Pharmaceuticals 

• Extreme precision is required when creating pharmaceutical medications. Even minor errors can render a batch of medication or other such products completely unusable – so pharmaceutical companies must minimise human intervention and error as much as they possibly can.

OEM and manufacturing

• Manufacturing companies of all types can make use of process control. A company manufacturing structural steel, for example, will likely make use of process controls for tasks such as ensuring the proper temperature of blast furnaces, controlling the viscosity of molten metal, and for other such tasks that help ensure the right overall quality for the products.

Pulp and paper

• Process control is extremely important in the pulp and paper industry. This is partly because the raw material (wood) used for pulp and paper can vary in quality wildly, and regular, constant adjustments to manufacturing processes are required to take this into account – ensuring that a varied input (wood) always creates a consistent output (pulp and paper products).

Petrochemicals

• Process control can be used to closely monitor products during the refining and production process, ensuring consistent quality, and uninterrupted, continuous production of a given petrochemical product.

Power generation

• Power plants do not generate a physical product, but rather generate electricity and power to be used elsewhere – and they must do so constantly, so they always make use of a number of process control systems.

Food and dairy 

• Using process control to automate the production of food and dairy products is a great way to ensure that the food is safe and is of a consistent quality

​Water

• Water treatment is an ideal application for process control, as the input (wastewater, seawater, etc.) never stops – and can vary quite a bit in composition.

Oil & gas

• Oil and gas pipelines must deliver a constant, steady stream of oil or gas, and be maintained at the proper pressure. Process controls can help automatically adjust pipelines and product throughput – keeping the pipeline reliable, safe, and ensuring a steady flow of oil or gas. Refineries also make use of process controls to ensure safety, product quality, and uninterrupted production.

Understand Process Control - And Why It's Important For Your Company

By implementing better process controls, companies of all types, sizes, and specialties – in any industry – can benefit from a more efficient production process, better product quality, higher output, and a number of other advantages. So start thinking about how you can improve your own process controls and contact us today – and get a competitive edge!