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A history of real-time industrial process control in the Dutch steel-making industry

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Abstract

In this paper the history of automation of real-time industrial process control is studied via a case study of the Dutch Hoogovens Steel Company. Before the Second World War, in this company, process control was based on intuition. After the War, as a consequence of changes in the steel market and the increasing complexity of steelmaking technology, demand for computing equipment grew. Prior to the introduction of digital computers, the company applied special slide rules and built several analogue computers for process control. In this paper the reasons for the choice between alternative computing technologies are addressed as the evolution of process control automation is studied.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History of Technology / Technology Assessment Section, Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands

    Jan van den Ende

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  1. Jan van den Ende
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van den Ende, J. A history of real-time industrial process control in the Dutch steel-making industry. Real-Time Syst 8, 215–226 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01094344

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01094344

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