A lot of efforts are normally done to design plants in an efficient way. Still, most plants are having varying production qualities and quantities and both the diagnostics of sensors and process performance and advanced control for optimal production are essential. Useful methods and applications of these for both power plant and process industry applications are presented. The benefits of using, for example, simulators are described in connection with start‐up of new plants and the importance of diagnostics for maintenance of demand. Examples are shown where statistical methods are used to predict pulp paper quality properties and physical models to perform data reconciliation and decision support. The data reconciliation predicts true values for sensors that are drifting while decision support is giving advice when any kind of possible problem has been detected. In addition, process optimization and model‐based control are discussed.