PID Tuning Certification & Primary Process Control
Identify dynamics, calculate optimal PID parameters, and validate tuning in SIMCET and PITOPS.
Industrial Process Control Training
Process control training that keeps expertise in the control room.
Process control training teaches engineers, operators, and technicians to configure, tune, and optimize PID loops, DCS/PLC systems, and advanced process control — taught hands-on through real-time simulation, in Houston, Zagreb, or online.
Houston, TXPID100 Oct 5–6 · APC200 Oct 7–9
Zagreb, CroatiaPID100 Oct 12–13 · APC200 Oct 14–16
All dates & locations →When experienced operators and engineers retire, plants lose the controller-tuning expertise that keeps production safe and profitable. PiControl's 31 hands-on training courses close that gap — PID tuning, DCS/PLC, APC, and instrumentation, taught through real-time simulation in Houston, Zagreb, or online.
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Training courses
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Why engineers choose us
Trusted by engineers and operators at Fortune 500 process industries.
The catalog
Training categories — choose your discipline
Process control training at PiControl is organized into five categories, each with a progressive set of courses — from fundamentals through advanced application — using process control software and real-time simulation at every level. All 31 courses are available online (self-paced or live virtual), classroom (Houston or Zagreb), or onsite at your facility.
PID Tuning & Primary Process Control2 courses
Advanced PID Tuning with SUPERTUNE
Auto-adaptive online PID tuning technology for loops that drift with fouling, catalyst aging, and feed changes.
Advanced Process Control (APC) & MPC3 courses
Industrial Advanced Process Control Design
APC concepts, DCS-resident design, and closed-loop identification with PITOPS and COLUMBO.
Advanced APC Applications
Extends APC200 with constraint handling and feedforward strategies applied to real process units.
Model Predictive Control (MPC)
Build, commission, and maintain multivariable MPC controllers using closed-loop time-domain identification.
DCS & PLC Training6 courses
DCS Training for Control Room Operators
DCS navigation, alarm response, loop behavior, and abnormal-situation recognition.
DCS Configuration & Loop Commissioning
Build and commission regulatory control loops, alarms, and operator graphics on a DCS platform.
SIEMENS PCS7 Training Course
Platform-specific configuration, programming, and troubleshooting on SIEMENS PCS7.
DCS Platform Training
Platform-specific configuration and troubleshooting for advanced control-room scenarios.
PLC Programming & Ladder Logic
Ladder logic, sequencing, and interlocks for discrete and hybrid process control.
Advanced PLC Integration
Integrate PLC I/O with the wider control system and commission discrete control sequences.
Monitoring, Instrumentation & Safety9 courses
Loop Performance Monitoring & Diagnostics
Statistical monitoring, oscillation detection, and loop-performance diagnostics with APROMON.
OPC Communication & System Integration
Connect PiControl software and third-party systems to any DCS or PLC via OPC.
Statistical Process Control Fundamentals
Core statistical methods for monitoring and improving process variability.
System Identification & Statistical Analysis
Time-domain system identification methods and statistical analysis of process data.
Pressure Instrumentation & Piping
Selection, ranging, and installation of pressure transmitters and final control elements.
Temperature Instrumentation
Temperature measurement fundamentals, transmitter selection, and control-loop impact.
Control Wiring & Termination
Control wiring practices, termination standards, and field-to-DCS signal integrity.
Plant Safety & Alarm Management
Safety instrumented functions, interlocks, and alarm-response fundamentals.
Industrial Control System Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity fundamentals for DCS, PLC, and industrial control networks.
Equipment Control & Chemical Engineering11 courses
Boiler Control Systems
Combustion control, drum-level control, and boiler-specific tuning strategies.
Steam Turbine & Boiler Control
Turbine and boiler control coordination for power and utility systems.
Industrial Heat Exchanger Control
Heat-exchanger control strategies, temperature control, and thermal process dynamics.
Compressor & Blower Control
Anti-surge and capacity control strategies for compressors and blowers.
Steam Generator Control
Steam generation control strategies for utility and process boilers.
Chemical Engineering Fundamentals (Self-Paced CBT)
Six-course self-paced sequence covering chemical-engineering fundamentals with industrial process control.
How you learn
Training delivery formats — choose how you learn.
Every format includes hands-on practice using process control simulation software — participants configure, tune, and optimize control loops in real time.
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Classroom
In-personLive instruction at PiControl HQ (Houston), the Zagreb center, or your own facility.
Per-seat sim5–25 group
View scheduleLive Online
GoToMeetingLive virtual instruction with real-time interaction and your own simulator instance.
Own simSmall class
View scheduleVideo + Live Voice
VimeoPre-recorded sessions with live instructor voice-over and hands-on SIMCET exercises.
Any deviceSIMCET included
RegisterSelf-Paced CBT
SoftwareComplete software modules installed on your computer — learn at your own pace.
CHE100C–600CLifetime access
Browse coursesWhere we teach
Live training — Houston, Zagreb & on-site.
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Houston, TX — PiControl HQ
Hosts the PID Tuning Certification and Advanced Process Control courses, in the heart of the US refining and petrochemical corridor.
Register for Houston PID100Zagreb, Croatia — European Alliance Center
Serves Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. Identical curriculum, instructors, and certification as Houston.
Register for Zagreb PID100On-Site at Your Facility
PiControl instructors deliver training at your plant, customized to your DCS/PLC platform and process dynamics. Year-round scheduling for groups of 5–25 — also at colleges, corporate offices, and conference venues.
Request On-Site TrainingRecommended paths
Who should train — matched to your role.
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ChemE Students & New Graduates
Full chemical-engineering fundamentals with industrial process control — ready for plant employment. For pre-graduation experience, see the Industrial Process Control Internship.
The discipline
What industrial process control training covers
Industrial process control training teaches engineers, operators, technicians, supervisors, and plant managers how to configure, tune, monitor, and optimize industrial control systems — including PID controllers, DCS platforms, PLC logic, advanced process control (APC) strategies, model predictive control (MPC), and process safety systems. Effective training combines control theory with hands-on practice using real-time simulation that replicates actual plant behavior.
Regulatory layer · The foundation
PID control loops
Every plant runs on PID. You'll learn to identify true process dynamics — gain, time constant and dead time — directly from normal operating data, then tune P, I and D for fast setpoint tracking and firm disturbance rejection. No plant step tests, no production upsets.
- Read gain, lag and dead time straight from a closed-loop trend
- Tune for stability and speed without trial-and-error
- Diagnose oscillation, sluggishness and valve stiction
Control platforms · The control room
DCS platforms
Configure and operate distributed control systems the way real control rooms run them — building loops, alarms, interlocks and operator displays, and understanding how the DCS executes your tuning on every scan.
- Build and commission regulatory control loops
- Design alarms and operator graphics that reduce errors
- Map how scan rate and signal filtering affect loop behavior
Aligned to the major DCS platforms used across refining and chemicals.
Discrete & hybrid · The field layer
PLC logic
Ladder logic, sequencing and interlocks for discrete and hybrid processes — the bridge between field instrumentation and the regulatory control layer.
- Read and write ladder logic and function blocks
- Build interlocks and start/stop sequences safely
- Integrate PLC I/O with the wider control system
Hands-on with the logic patterns engineers meet on real units.
Optimization · Pushing the limits
Advanced process control (APC)
Layer constraint, feedforward and decoupling control on top of well-tuned base loops to drive units toward their economic limits while staying safely inside their operating envelope.
- Tell when a loop needs APC versus better PID
- Design feedforward and constraint control strategies
- Quantify the benefit before committing to a project
Built and deployed with PiControl APC software.
Multivariable · Interacting units
Model predictive control (MPC)
Multivariable control that respects loop interactions and hard constraints. Build, commission and — critically — maintain MPC controllers so they keep performing long after the original project team has moved on.
- Build time-domain models directly from plant data
- Commission an MPC and verify its predictions
- Re-stabilize and maintain a degrading controller
Modeled in the time domain — minutes and seconds, not abstract transforms.
Measurement & protection · First principles
Safety & instrumentation
Sensors, transmitters, final control elements and the safety systems that protect people and equipment. Measurement quality shapes every loop downstream — get it wrong and no amount of tuning will save you.
- Select and range transmitters and final elements
- Understand safety instrumented functions and interlocks
- Trace how measurement noise propagates into control
The measurement fundamentals every control strategy depends on.
PiControl Solutions LLC is an integrated process control software vendor, consulting firm, and industrial training company — one organization across all three pillars. PiControl has spent 30+ years closing the gap between university-style process control instruction and what control rooms actually need. As experienced operators and engineers retire from the chemical, refining, and power industries every year, new technicians and engineers must be brought up to speed quickly — and conventional academic training is too slow and too theoretical to do the job.
Why not MATLAB? Products like MATLAB are excellent in some applications, but rather cumbersome and complex for industrial use in the control room environment. The commonly used ARMAX-based system identification is sensitive to the large levels of noise and unmeasured disturbances found in real plants — and it does not work well on completely oscillatory closed-loop controllers. PiControl training and software work entirely in the time domain (seconds, minutes, milliseconds), making them dramatically faster to learn and apply on real plant loops.
Training is delivered across six disciplines using process control software and process control simulation software — the same tools participants will deploy at their plants after the course.
The problem
Why most training fails to improve plant performance.
Most process control training programs teach theory without application. Engineers attend multi-day courses, learn from Laplace transforms and frequency-domain mathematics, and return without the hands-on skills to actually improve controller performance — while experienced staff retire every year and the next generation needs faster, more practical training.
✕Conventional training
✓The PiControl way
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✕Academic math, not industrial reality.
Laplace, frequency-domain and ARMAX identification are elegant but cumbersome in the noisy, disturbance-heavy control room — and fail on the oscillatory closed-loop systems real plants run.
✓Time-domain, plant-reality method.
PiControl teaches entirely in the time domain — seconds, minutes, milliseconds — handling the noise, disturbances and closed-loop oscillation that define real processes.
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✕No simulation practice.
Tuning a PID controller requires real-time pattern recognition. Without simulation, engineers never build the skill. See PID tuning.
✓Real-time simulation from hour one.
Every course is built around the SIMCET real-time simulator, so participants build the pattern-recognition skills no slide deck can teach.
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✕Generic content, not plant-specific.
A refinery column and a pharmaceutical reactor have different dynamics. Generic training produces engineers who pass exams but can't tune their plant.
✓Calibrated to your process.
Training is tuned to your sector dynamics — refining, pharma, power, cement — using the same models engineers meet on their own units.
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✕No exposure to modern tools.
Many programs still teach 1980s manual methods, ignoring closed-loop system identification and time-domain optimization.
✓The current industrial toolset.
Participants work in PITOPS with closed-loop system identification — the methods in production at Fortune 500 plants today.
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✕Attendance certificate, not competency.
Most programs verify presence, not skill. There is no validation that the engineer can actually tune a loop.
✓Competency-verified certification.
Certification validates demonstrated tuning in SIMCET at 75%+ — a defensible credential for hiring, promotion and qualification reviews.
The plant-floor cost
Undertrained operators and engineers show up as real production losses: incorrect tuning during startups that drives product quality off-spec, manual-mode overrides that disable APC benefits and waste utilities, slow response to disturbances that propagates oscillation across units, and avoidable safety incidents from poor alarm-response training. Each has a measurable cost — and each compounds as experienced staff retire.
The PiControl method
Time domain, measurably more hands-on, competency-verified.
PiControl training solves the failures above by working entirely in the time domain — seconds, minutes, milliseconds — the language of real plant operations. Every course is built around hands-on simulation using the same process control software engineers use in production.
The engine
Time-Domain Methodology
No Laplace, frequency-domain or Z-domain math — every model and tuning move happens in the time domain, the way operators and engineers naturally think about process behavior.
What "more hands-on" means in practice
- 20+ unit-operation simulators across distillation, reactors, heat exchangers, boilers, flow, level, pressure & pump systems
- Full PITOPS + SIMCET installs on every participant's laptop — real industrial software, not demo-stripped versions
- Client to verify ~X hours of hands-on simulation in PID100 and ~X hours in APC200
- Client to verify X+ live loop-tuning exercises per course — startups, disturbance rejection, constraint handling
- Realistic process dynamics — dead time, nonlinearities, measurement noise & oscillatory closed-loop behavior, not idealized textbook models
Tools of the trade
Process control software taught in every course.
PiControl process control software is more powerful, more compact, simpler to use, and built around a novel user interface superior to the competition. Every course is built around hands-on use of these same tools — participants learn the software they will deploy at their plants.
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PITOPS
Multivariable closed-loop system identification, PID tuning optimization, and APC design. Used in PID100, PID475, APC200, APC275. Install rights with PID100 & APC200.
Learn moreSUPERTUNE
Fully automatic and auto-adaptive online PID tuning technology. Used in PID475 and real-time auto-tuning demonstrations.
Learn moreSIMCET
Real-time PID tuning training simulator with 20+ unit-operation models. Used in every PID and DCS course. Install rights with PID100.
Learn moreCOLUMBO
Closed-loop multivariable MPC identifier. Used in APC200, APC275, MPC700 for MPC model development.
Learn moreAPROMON
Online PID/APC monitoring and diagnostics. Used in MON300 for loop-performance assessment.
Learn moreBeyond individual skills, training accelerates plant-wide adoption of PiControl process control software and reduces long-term dependency on external tuning support. Engineers who complete PID100 and APC200 return ready to deploy these tools on day one — turning training from a learning event into operational capability.
Testimonials
What participants say after training.
Downloads
Training resources & downloads.
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Training Brochure
Comprehensive PDF with all 31 course descriptions, syllabi, and learning objectives.
Course Schedules & Locations
Current and upcoming training session dates, locations, and registration deadlines.
Register for a Course
Browse all 31 courses across every format and reserve your seat in the next session.
FAQ
Common questions about process control training.
The practical answers engineers and managers ask before they register.
It is professional education that teaches engineers, operators, technicians, supervisors, and managers how to configure, tune, monitor, and optimize industrial control systems — PID controllers, DCS platforms, PLC systems, APC, and MPC. Effective training combines control theory with hands-on practice using process control simulation software. PiControl delivers 31 courses across PID tuning, DCS/PLC, APC/MPC, monitoring, instrumentation, safety, and chemical engineering, conducted entirely in the time domain (not Laplace or frequency domain) for faster real-world application.
It depends on your role. Control-room operators should begin with DCS400. Process and instrument engineers should start with PID100. Automation and APC engineers should complete PID100 first, then advance to APC200. Process managers should follow PID100 → APC200 → MON300 → PLT100. Chemical engineering students should follow the CHE100C–CHE600C self-paced CBT sequence.
Yes — in four formats: classroom (Houston, Zagreb, or your facility), online live session via GoToMeeting with real-time interaction, online Vimeo video with live instructor voice-over and immediate assistance, and self-paced CBT software modules. Every format includes hands-on SIMCET simulation practice.
PiControl's PID tuning certification validates hands-on controller optimization ability — not theoretical exam performance. Participants must demonstrate process identification, PID parameter calculation, and tuning implementation on real industrial dynamics in SIMCET, then pass a multiple-choice review test at 75% or higher. It is designed as a defensible competency credential for hiring managers, promotion committees, and engineering qualification reviews — not just a course-attendance record.
PiControl training is conducted entirely in the time domain (seconds, minutes, milliseconds) — not the Laplace, frequency, or Z-domain mathematics typically taught at universities or required by tools like MATLAB. MATLAB and ARMAX-based identification are excellent for academic research but struggle with the noise, unmeasured disturbances, and closed-loop oscillation that define real industrial loops. PiControl has spent 30+ years closing the gap between university instruction and what plants actually need.
Every course uses PiControl software: PITOPS for closed-loop system identification, SIMCET for real-time DCS simulation, SUPERTUNE for automatic PID auto-tuning, COLUMBO for MPC identification, and APROMON for monitoring. Participants install full industrial APC software on their own laptops during training — not stripped-down demos. PID100 and APC200 participants keep SIMCET and PITOPS install rights after the course.
PiControl courses are rated 4.87 out of 5 by participating engineers and operators, based on a 25-question post-course feedback questionnaire. The training is more hands-on than any competitor and is trusted by engineers at Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Intel, Corning, LG Chem, Praxair, Albemarle, NOV, Atlas Copco, INA, Sipchem, WestRock, and other Fortune 500 industrial companies.
Onsite training can be fully customized to your DCS/PLC platform (including SIEMENS PCS7, SIEMENS Tia Portal, and EMERSON DeltaV), process type, and team skill level. Instructors configure simulations using your plant's specific dynamics. Available for groups of 5–25 at your facility, at PiControl HQ in Houston, at the Zagreb alliance center, or at colleges and conference venues.
Get started
Start your process control training.
31 courses across PID tuning, DCS/PLC, APC, MPC, monitoring, instrumentation, safety, and chemical engineering. Choose the path that matches where you are today.