Friedman, Y. Z.
Y. Zak Friedman is a Principal Consultant with Petrocontrol. He has practiced APC for most of his career, specializing in using first-principles models for inferential process control and has developed inferential models to fit many hydrocarbon processes. Dr. Friedman’s experience spans more than 50 yr, working with Exxon Research and Engineering, KBC Advanced Technology and Petrocontrol. He holds a PhD degree from Purdue University.
HP Control: Audit your APC applications
I was one of the first control industry whistleblowers, pointing out that half of the advanced process control (APC) applications implemented over the years do not work. We APC engineers have the resp..
HP Control: Jim Ford's views on advanced process control
C. F. Picou Associates, Inc. (CFPA), an affiliate of Maverick Technologies, was founded in 1974 by Dr. Courtney Picou. Originally aiming to provide process engineering consulting to the refining indus..
HP Control: What constitutes a real-time application?
I recently heard computer programs, mainly of the simulation variety, described as working in real time in service of the unit operators, inferring product properties and other unmeasured constraints ..
HP Control: Are there any good APC training programs out there?
I have written several articles and editorials warning about the failure rate of advanced process control (APC) applications. See for example my January 2006 editorial,1 which also references related ..
HP Control: Solomon Associates' advanced process control survey
Measuring advanced process control (APC) benefits is as important as it is difficult. We justify APC projects on estimations that the unit operation would improve. To the extent that these preproject ..
HP Control: Where has engineering judgment gone?
One of my clients has a dozen or so distillation multi-variable predictive control (MVPC) applications, implemented by one of the major advanced process control (APC) vendors. These applications have ..
HP Control: Choosing inferential modeling tools
Goel and Shah of Reliance Industries in India published a recent article, claiming that spreadsheet regression is the preferred choice for inferential modeling based on price considerations.1 Since co..
HP Control: Why coker APC applications are tough
I recently helped commission a coker multivariable predictive control (MVPC) application at the ROG Horst refinery in Germany (see acknowledgment). Commissioning new advanced process control (APC) app..
HP Control: Dr. Pierre Latour's views on APC
Pierre Latour has been a pillar in our advanced process control (APC) industry for as long as anyone can remember. His long and turbulent career started upon graduating from Purdue University with a P..
HP Control: Recent trends in control
As you know, Zak Friedman has taken over writing this column. Zak had a column prepared for this issue, but the company he interviewed declined permission to publish it (Zak wouldn't let them make it ..
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