Control for Aluminum Production and Other Processing Industries

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.

Preface
About the Authors

Chapter 1 : Importance of Control
Chapter 2 : Tour of the Plant
Chapter 3 : Welcome to Production
Chapter 4 : Industrial Accidents
Chapter 5 : Potline Process Control Failure
Chapter 6 : Diagnosing Variation in Materials Processing
Chapter 7 : Understanding Potroom Processes
Chapter 8 : Start of a New Culture
Chapter 9 : Reformulation of Potline Control
Chapter 10 : People, Process, and Plant
Chapter 11 : Better Decisions for Control
Chapter 12 : Accelerating Removal of Variation

Answers to Chapter Exercises
Glossary
Index