New Imperatives Make Real-Time Product Quality Analysis More Critical than Ever

Today's imperatives call for more flexible production across both the dis-crete and process manufacturing industries. This can include being able to produce a greater number of products or different product grades in smaller batches or lots, rapidly changing from one product grade or recipe to another, or actually modifying plants quickly by reassembling lines or equipment using modular process technology. These new requirements come in addition to shortening time-to-market, maintaining quality consistency and service levels, reducing cost, improving sustainability and being able to prove regulatory compliance at any time.

In the process, batch, and hybrid industries, deviations in product quality determined by biological, chemical, or physical properties often take time to identify and, if the correct parameters are not maintained, can require costly product reprocessing, quality giveaway, or waste processing. In general, the longer it takes to identify an off-spec product, the more costly the problem will be in time, raw materials, energy, quality giveaway, or waste. This makes it critical to be able to accurately measure and/or control both process variables (pressure, level, flow, temperature, etc.) and product quality parameters. (In cases where unmeasured disturbances are present, model predictive control techniques can be employed to manipulate the process conditions to maintain consistent product quality).

While these approaches are well-established within the refining and petrochemical processing industries, in recent years the US FDA recognized the value of this type of science-based quality control, which it refers to as "Process Analytical Technologies (PAT)", in the typically batch-style processing industries that it regulates.

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Keywords: Process Control, Process Analyzers, Quality Parameters, Off-Line Analysis, At-Line Analysis, On-Line Analysis, In-Line Analysis, Real-Time Analysis, ARC Advisory Group.