Process control of an industrial plant

A method of controlling an industrial plant, the method comprising:

• monitoring operation of at least one component of the industrial plant by a plurality of sensors forming part of automatic control equipment;
• transferring measured data from the sensors and observational data relating to operation of the industrial plant to a processor, the observational data being obtained by plant personnel and relating to an operational state of the at least one component;
• accessing a database containing the measured data from the sensors and the observational data relating to operation of the industrial plant, as periodically updated by the processor;
• quantifying, automatically with the processor, a level of disorder of the measured data;
• computing, automatically with the processor, a raster of the level of disorder of the measured data;
• determining a state of the at least one component of the industrial plant, automatically with the processor, based at least in part upon the raster of the level of disorder of the measured data;
• controlling the automatic control equipment based on the determined state;
• and
• integrating, automatically with the processor, the measured data and the observational data to build a description of a process condition over time of the at least one component of the industrial plant.