Achieving On-Aim Product Quality Control by Design

Abstract

One important reason for delivering excellent dynamic performance in a new or existing process centers on the need to control product quality on-aim (defined as keeping product quality variables at a given target with low variability around that target). This consistency requirement is a particularly key issue for pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, specialty chemicals, monomers, polymers, fibers, etc., where it is often impossible to measure all properties and where small differences in impurities can cause a significant change in end-use characteristics. Achieving the ability to control product quality on-aim does not happen by accident, it happens by deliberate design. This paper summarizes an industrial view on incorporating controllability and developing plantwide control strategies at the stage where a new process is being designed. It presents several industrial examples to highlight key concepts.