In the manufacturing world, the word “retrofit” many times is feared to mean “lost production.” In other words, plants—or at least parts of plants—must be shut down for equipment to be upgraded. And ...

It’s not, “You say ‘tomato’ and I say ‘tomahto.’ ” With advanced process controls (APCs), you either know what they are or you don’t. If you do know, you know they give for-real, money-in-your-pocket ...

Optimization seeks to find the best. It could be to design a process that minimizes capital or maximizes material conversion, to choose operating conditions that maximize throughput or minimize waste, ...

Partnerships between OEMs and industrial control system vendors often only involve the integration of PLCs or components in the machines. But with consumer behavior changing market demands—especially ...

ISA recently published the third edition of Basic and Advanced Regulatory Control: System Design and Application by Harold L. Wade, Ph.D., PE. In this Q&A feature, Dr. Wade highlights the focus, ...

Increasingly tight tolerances and rigorous demands for quality are forcing chipmakers and equipment manufacturers to ferret out minor process variances, which can create significant anomalies in ...