Process Control Software, Built and Taught by Process Control Engineers
Process control software is the optimization layer that sits above a plant's DCS, PLC, or SCADA system and makes the controllers already installed there perform measurably better. PiControl Solutions LLC is an Original Equipment Manufacturer of that software, headquartered in Texas with offices and alliances across 13 countries, serving industrial clients in 40+ countries and 16+ sectors.
The optimization layer, not the control layer
PiControl operates above the control system, not inside it — building the independent software that pushes a plant's existing DCS or PLC closer to its design limit.
The company runs on three revenue streams that all resolve to the same technology: software licensing, process control consulting, and process control training. Every consulting engagement deploys the software. Every course teaches the methodology behind it.
This is why the software stays DCS-agnostic. An optimization vendor tied to one control-system vendor can only optimize that vendor's installed base — PiControl connects to any of them.
Mission & Vision
Four categories of optimization software
Each category addresses a different failure mode in existing control systems. Pick one to see the software inside it.
Offices & alliances in 13 countries
Worldwide headquarters in the United States, with offices and alliance partners across four regions — client delivery over OPC reaches 40+ countries. Hover a marker or pick a country.
What makes the software different
PiControl's process control software differs from conventional identification tools in five specific ways, each of which removes a limitation that bundled and step-test-based tools carry.
The result is a modeling process that is simpler, faster, and more reliable than step-test-based identification — which is why closed-loop identification is displacing open-loop step testing: the accurate models it produces do not degrade the moment the plant moves off its test operating point.
Why bundled optimization tools leave performance on the table
Most plants already own a tuning tool — it shipped with the control system and hasn't been opened in years. The reason is methodological: every bundled tool relies on open-loop step testing, and few plants are willing to disrupt a running production unit just to gather data.
✕Loop taken off automatic.
Every bundled tool ships with the same method: take the loop off automatic, bump it, and watch the response to fit a model.
✓Loops stay in automatic.
PITOPS extracts the same transfer functions from data the plant is already producing — no manual mode required.
✕Disrupts a running production unit.
Bumping a live loop deliberately upsets the process just to gather the data a model needs.
✓No production disruption.
The plant keeps running exactly as it would anyway — the loop gets identified in the background.
✕Captures one operating point only.
A step test freezes the process at a single condition, so the resulting model only describes that one moment.
✓Multivariable transfer functions.
PITOPS extracts full multivariable models from 4–24 hours of normal operating data, capturing how loops actually interact.
✕Model degrades as the plant moves.
Conditions drift after the test, so the fitted model goes stale — and refreshing it means upsetting the unit again.
✓Built from normal operating data.
Because identification uses ordinary operating data, refreshing a model never requires a new disruptive test.
The plant-floor cost
So the bundled tool is opened rarely, if ever, and models go stale. 60–80% of PID loops run poorly tuned, though PID controllers make up over 95% of all control loops. PiControl Solutions is the only independent vendor performing closed-loop, time-domain, multivariable identification — the method behind every product it builds.
From a methodology problem to a software company
PiControl's whole product line traces back to one argument about how process models should be built. Follow the thread.
One methodology, delivered three ways
Closed-loop, time-domain identification underneath all three — the only difference is who runs it.
Your own engineers run the identification and tuning themselves. Suited to teams with in-house process control capability who want the tooling — not the engagement.
The same software, operated by PiControl engineers. A typical engagement covers 50 to 500 control loops, delivered on-site or remotely over OPC, with documented before-and-after results for every loop.
Developed with the American Institute of Automation and Process Control (AIAPC). 30+ courses cover PID tuning, DCS/PLC, APC, MPC and chemical engineering — online, on-site, and live in Houston and Zagreb. PID tuning certification available.
How PiControl works with plants
Every engagement starts from the plant's existing control system and its real operating data, not from a template. The software adapts to the process; the process is never taken apart to fit the software.
The direction the work is pointed
A continuation of the founding argument, not a departure from it — three commitments that follow directly from the mission and vision.
Closed-loop as the default
Continuing to advance closed-loop, time-domain, multivariable identification — so that building an accurate process model without disturbing production becomes the industry norm, not the exception.
Closing the academia gap
Growing the 30+ course catalog and the SIMCET university program to narrow the distance between what universities teach about process control and what plants actually need on the floor.
Vendor-agnostic coverage
Keeping the software independent and OPC-connected across every major DCS and PLC platform, so optimization is never limited to one vendor installed base.
Start Where You Are
Three ways in, depending on what you need.
About PiControl Solutions: Common Questions
What we do, where we sit in the stack, where we're located, and what makes the approach different.