Many companies are unaware of how various changes in the composition of the raw material affect the properties of the final product. The process conditions can be adjusted to compensate for the variations in the raw materials to obtain the desired chemical and physical properties. Many companies talk about the desire to reduce the variance of product specifications from the production specifications. One plant manager described their aspirations as a desire to ‘narrow the curve’. Until now, the properties of the product have been specified, measured and noted, but feedback from this procedure to suit the process to the raw material in order to get the desired product has generally not been utilised (Wallins, 1995). One of the initial steps carried out in each of the case studies has been to undertake a process information audit in each plant. This information forms the basis for developing a model of the plant in some cases or identifying necessary data acquisition/sensor upgrades.