supervision of industrial processes, supervision and coordination between manufacturing processes performed by a computer
Process control is a
statistics and
engineering discipline that deals with
architectures,
mechanisms, and
algorithms for controlling the output of a specific
process. See also
control theory.For example, heating up the temperature in a room is a process that has the specific, desired outcome to reach and maintain a defined
temperature (e.g. 20°C), kept constant over time. Here, the temperature is the controlled variable. At the same time, it is the input variable since it is measured by a thermometer and used to decide whether to heat or not to heat. The desired temperature (20°C) is the setpoint. The state of the heater (e.g. the setting of the valve allowing hot water to flow through it) is called the manipulated variable since it is subject to control actions.
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The methodology for keeping a process within boundaries; minimizing the variation of a process.