Use of key performance indicators in production management

Improving production performance requires the definition of global production objectives with a proper implementation strategy and suitable closed-loop control for their achievement. Closed-loop control structures for simple systems like temperature or velocity control are well defined, but a synthesis of plant-wide control structures is still recognised as the most crucial production management design problem in process industries. One vital issue to be resolved is how to translate implicit operating objectives, such as the minimisation of production costs into a set of measurable variables that can be then used in a feedback-control. A promising solution is the use of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) approach. To verify the idea of production feedback control using production KPIs as referenced controlled variables, a procedural model of a production process for a polymerisation plant has been developed. The model has been used during a number of simulation runs performed with the aim of developing and verifying the idea of KPI-based production control.