Process Control Services

Control performance review

Show which loops actually move quality, energy, or throughput, and which ones only look busy.

A structured look at a defined unit. We use historian data, mode history, and a conversation with operations to separate oscillation, saturation, and loops left in manual for a reason.

Scope: A named unit or a loop list you agree in advance. Typically flow, level, pressure, temperature, and the few composition or quality loops that constrain the unit.
Process: Data request, remote or on-site review, a short workshop with process and control engineers, then a written ranking.
Deliverables: Performance brief, ranked loop list, and a recommended sequence of interventions. No claim of a site-wide audit unless that is the agreed scope.
Who it suits: Plants with recurring quality swings, high operator intervention, or a project that needs a baseline before money is spent on software.

Loop tuning and stabilization

Give oscillating or sluggish loops a response the board can leave in automatic.

Tuning is done against the process you have: valve condition, dead time, and the constraints operators already respect. Cascade and simple feedforward are included when the baseline shows they are the right tool.

Scope: Regulatory loops on the agreed unit. We do not retune an entire site in one visit.
Process: Baseline, a planned test or closed-loop review with the site’s permit rules, new settings, verification, and a note the next shift can read.
Deliverables: Tuning sheets, before-and-after notes, and the conditions under which the tune should be revisited.
Who it suits: Instrumentation teams that know the plant and do not have a quiet week to do this systematically.

Alarm rationalization

Reduce alarm load so an alarm is a request for a decision, not background noise.

We review bad actors, standing alarms, and priorities with the people who acknowledge them. The approach follows the spirit of ISA-18.2: philosophy, rationalization, and a way to keep the list from growing back. We do not certify a site to that standard.

Scope: One control room area or a defined alarm list. Priorities, limits, and suppression rules that your system can actually implement.
Process: Alarm snapshot, workshop with operations, agreed changes, and support while your system owner applies them.
Deliverables: Alarm notes, a rationalized list, and a short bad-actor report with owners.
Who it suits: Rooms where alarms are silenced by habit, or where a recent project doubled the count.

Control strategy design

Write how a unit should be controlled before it is coded or modified.

A control narrative covers operating intent, inventory and energy balance at a practical level, cascade and constraint handling, and the interface with interlocks. Safety instrumented functions remain with your safety authority. We describe the regulatory layer so it does not fight them.

Scope: A revamp, a new skid, or a debottleneck with a defined battery limit.
Process: Operating intent with process engineering, review of cause and effect with your specialists, narrative, and a test outline for the implementer.
Deliverables: Control narrative, simplified sketches, and a test outline. Drawings your fabricator needs stay with your design office.
Who it suits: Project teams who have equipment selected and still need the control intent written in operational language.

Operator decision support

Make the control intent visible on the shift that has to run it.

We look at a sample of displays, the trends people actually open, and what is said at handover. The result is a tighter set of pictures and limits, not a reskin of every graphic.

Scope: One unit’s operating displays and the handover between shifts.
Process: A shift walkthrough, remote or on site, revision of a sample, and guidance for the person who owns the HMI.
Deliverables: Display notes, a trend list, and a handover checklist tied to the loops in scope.
Who it suits: Sites where a few senior operators carry the unit and the graphics do not show the same story.

Commissioning and handover support

Help a project become operable, not only started.

We join at agreed windows for loop checks, initial tuning, and the first weeks of performance. We do not take the construction permit or replace the commissioning manager.

Scope: The control loops and operating modes named in the project. Mechanical completion stays with the project.
Process: Join the site team, document deviations from the narrative, and leave a holding plan for the first month.
Deliverables: Commissioning notes, an open-item list for control, and watch points for thirty days.
Who it suits: In-house projects and EPC handovers where the control system is in, and the unit is still nervous.

Six ways to steady a unit.