Has the advanced process control industry completely collapsed?

摘要

I stopped writing editorials for a while because people were uncomfortable reading them.But I have finally decided against burying my head in sand.We-control engineers-should discuss frankly how advanced process control(APC),being one of the most lucrative refinery projects when done correctly,has lost so much operating companies' faith(and funding).Only on understanding what has gone wrong will we learn how to fix it.In '97 I wrote an editorial1 pointing to mistakes in implementing APC and suggesting diat operating companies manage the efforts better and dedicate more engineers for die design stage as well as maintenance.