The Cro's Role in Advanced Process Control

The CRO's Role in Advanced Process Control

By

Michael C. Delaney, P.E.

In my article “Advanced process control:  A historical perspective” (Hydrocarbon Processing, February, 2012),  I cited a word of caution from one of the first supervisory computer control  (SCC) project teams at Phillips Petroleum which suggested that adoption of the technology  of the day was being hindered by  “the time required to build operations confidence in the system.”   Since that time, a plethora of articles have been written about advances in tools and technology for APC to the point where there are not enough acronyms available to describe them all.  Yes, we have come a long way.  But to what end?

Judging by a cursory review of recent literature on the topic, one would conclude that we continue to suffer from “the time required to build operations confidence in the system”.  The most recent proposal presented is to improve multivariable control performance by removing the model from MPC.  The irony of being left with PC control should not be lost on the casual observer.  While the merits of such an enhancement may be noteworthy, I submit that the issue cited by the Phillips team continues to be the Achilles' heel of advanced process control.

So, where's the missing link in the chain of sustainable success for the APC industry.  The key premise of this paper is the supposition that the CRO has been left out of the design and implementation of APC from the very beginning.  While the culture of the control room has not changed, the CRO's work environment has changed radically.

 After a brief retrospective of the control room culture and environment, I will offer suggestions for rethinking the role of the CRO and recognize that he/she has become, not by design, but by default, a key element in the advanced process control loop.  Not as an observer but as an active participant.  Effectively dealing with the implications of this change will determine if in ten years we are still writing papers on the lack of sustained success for the APC industry.