Worldwide, more than 2,200 cement plants consume enormous amounts of fuel and electric energy--and produce approximately 5 percent of all global CO₂ emissions. Cement plant owners are under intensifying pressure to curb emissions and benefit from more efficient and profitable plants. Still, they have a long way to go. Significant fluctuations and performance volatility in throughput, energy usage, and other operating parameters of up to 50 percent from average or more remain. Such situations persist largely because conventional automation and control systems have reached their limits for handling inherently unstable chemical process–type operations.