Plantwide control is concerned with the structural decisions involved in the control system design of a chemical plant (C.S. Foss, Critique of chemical process control theory, AIChE Journal 19(2), 1973) 209-214; "Which variables should be controlled, which variables should be measured, which inputs should be manipulated, and which links should be made between them?" In particular, the first issue about which variables to control has received little attention. It is argued that the answer is related to finding a simple and robust way of implementing the economically optimal operating policy. The goal is to fmd a set of controlled variables which, when kept at constant setpoints, indirectly lead to near-optimal operation with acceptable loss. This is denoted "self-optimizing" control. Since the economics are determined by the overall plant behavior, it is necessary to take a plantwide perspective. A systematic procedure for finding suitable controlled variables based on only steady-state information is presented. Important steps are degree of freedom analysis, definition of optimal operation (cost and constraints), and evaluation of the loss when the controlled variables are kept constant rather than optimally adjusted. A case study yields very interesting insights into the control and maximum throughput of distillation columns. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.