Control for Aluminum Production and Other Processing Industries

The book is a synthesis of new control thinking with process variability understanding. The diagnosis of abnormalities and the resolution of their causes are demonstrated for aluminum production plants, and a compendium of symptom/cause/correction responses is included for aluminum plant operators. Most narrated examples also demonstrate the interaction between human behavior and control, requiring a more scientific, questioning approach to the management of production. This approach is drawn from the authors’ more than 25 years of experience, not only in metals plants but also in petrochemical and in food processing plants. Readers get a view into the human aspect of accidents and the problems of production.

An uncomfortable observation in the Shift Logs and Process Control records of most aluminum smelting plants is that process control failures, large and small, happen every day. Although only a small fraction of these failures give rise to catastrophic events, the difference between a disaster we read about and a failure which, although expensive, has no irreversible consequences, is only chance.

Control for Aluminum Production and Other Processing Industries exemplifies new control thinking fused with an understanding of process variability, and how to diagnose abnormalities and their causes in aluminum production plants. Many real life examples in the book demonstrate the importance of human behavior and a scientific, questioning approach in the control of a technologically complex process. Written from the perspective of production staff and management, the book also gives readers a view into the human aspects of accidents and their analogy with failures in control of production.

Production plants regularly experience more control failures than successes and staff must continuously strive to establish stability and control of their process. Through on-the-job experiences of the authors and their industry colleagues, the control experiences described in this book provide readers with a foundation for building their own robust control rationale and a framework for avoidance of plant control problems.