Let’s start with a bold statement......

All complex industrial process facilities are operated, minute-by-minute, below their true potential, even those with traditional control and optimisation techniques applied and those which are expertly run by well-trained operators, engineers and managers.

Imagine if all plants, which produce the energy we demand, the materials we use, the medicines we need and the food and drink we consume, were truly operated to maximise or minimise a critical business parameter. For example,  what would the financial and environmental benefits be if petrochemical plants were safely operated minute-by-minute to  minimise energy consumption per unit of production. Similarly, what would the financial and environmental benefits be if all wind turbines were operated to maximise power generated for any given wind and weather condition? Suffice to say, the answers to these questions involve very big numbers. 

Numerous studies have shown that deploying real-time optimisation (RTO) should deliver between a 2 to 10% improvement in operating performance, often reducing an RTO project payback time to weeks if not days.

So why do we currently operate almost all complex processes and systems sub-optimally and leave huge benefits unrealized? Because delivering true optimisation in real-time, using existing  traditional techniques, is costly, time-consuming and technically difficult, requiring scarce highly skilled resources for their design, installation and ongoing maintenance.