Editing Industrial process control (section)

==Economic advantages==
The economic nature of many products manufactured in batch and continuous processes require highly efficient operation due to thin margins. The competing factor in process control is that products must meet certain specifications in order to be satisfactory. These specifications can come in two forms: a minimum and maximum for a property of the material or product, or a range within which the property must be.<ref name="smith">{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=C L|title=Process Control for the Process Industries - Part 2: Steady State Characteristics|journal=Chemical Engineering Progress|date=March 2017|pages=67–73}}</ref> All loops are susceptible to disturbances and therefore a buffer must be used on process set points to ensure disturbances do not cause the material or product to go out of specifications. This buffer comes at an economic cost (i.e. additional processing, maintaining elevated or depressed process conditions, etc.).

Process efficiency can be enhanced by reducing the margins necessary to ensure product specifications are met.<ref name =smith/> This can be done by improving the control of the process to minimize the effect of disturbances on the process. The efficiency is improved in a two step method of narrowing the variance and shifting the target.<ref name =smith/> Margins can be narrowed through various process upgrades (i.e. equipment upgrades, enhanced control methods, etc.). Once margins are narrowed, an economic analysis can be done on the process to determine how the set point target is to be shifted. Less conservative process set points lead to increased economic efficiency.<ref name = smith/> Effective process control strategies increase the competitive advantage of manufacturers who employ them.