A system for optimizing the operation of an induration furnace, said system comprising: ▪ said induration furnace; ▪ interactive means to monitor and control the furnace to provide an optimized furnace operation, said interactive means selected from a group consisting of a programmable logic controller, a distributed control system, and a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA), said interactive means adapted to communicate with the furnace, to retrieve, in real-time, online process data, and adapted to send, in real-time, the online process data for processing, and to receive therein an optimizing signal, to be communicated, to the furnace, for altering at least one process condition of the furnace; ▪ calibration means for generating a plurality of ideal set points for validation purposes, said calibration means comprising a laboratory information system for receiving process information relating to the furnace, characterized by the following features: said process information being at least one selected from a group consisting of fired pellet quality parameters, physical characteristics of the iron ore, chemical characteristics of the iron ore, physical characteristics of the fuel (coal or coke), chemical characteristics of the fuel (coal or coke), physical characteristics of the flux (limestone) and chemical characteristics of the flux (limestone), and adapted to process the information to generate a plurality of ideal set points to calibrate the furnace to operate at an optimized level; and ▪ a processing unit adapted to perform real-time optimization, said processing unit adapted to receive, in real-time, the online process data and the plurality of ideal set points, and comprising: computational means configured to compute a plurality of real-time active set points, using the online process data; corroboration means configured to match at least one of the plurality of real-time active set points with a corresponding ideal set point; alerting means configured to generate a signal, for optimization of at least one process condition, if at least one of the plurality of real-time active set point does not match the corresponding ideal set point; optimization means configured to, on receiving the signal from said alerting means, generate at least one optimizing signal, which is communicated to said interactive means, for optimizing the operation of the furnace. ▪ said induration furnace; ▪ interactive means to monitor and control the furnace to provide an optimized furnace operation, said interactive means selected from a group consisting of a programmable logic controller, a distributed control system, and a supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA), said interactive means adapted to communicate with the furnace, to retrieve, in real-time, online process data, and adapted to send, in real-time, the online process data for processing, and to receive therein an optimizing signal, to be communicated, to the furnace, for altering at least one process condition of the furnace; ▪ calibration means for generating a plurality of ideal set points for validation purposes, said calibration means comprising a laboratory information system for receiving process information relating to the furnace, characterized by the following features: said process information being at least one selected from a group consisting of fired pellet quality parameters, physical characteristics of the iron ore, chemical characteristics of the iron ore, physical characteristics of the fuel (coal or coke), chemical characteristics of the fuel (coal or coke), physical characteristics of the flux (limestone) and chemical characteristics of the flux (limestone), and adapted to process the information to generate a plurality of ideal set points to calibrate the furnace to operate at an optimized level; and ▪ a processing unit adapted to perform real-time optimization, said processing unit adapted to receive, in real-time, the online process data and the plurality of ideal set points, and comprising: computational means configured to compute a plurality of real-time active set points, using the online process data; corroboration means configured to match at least one of the plurality of real-time active set points with a corresponding ideal set point; alerting means configured to generate a signal, for optimization of at least one process condition, if at least one of the plurality of real-time active set point does not match the corresponding ideal set point; optimization means configured to, on receiving the signal from said alerting means, generate at least one optimizing signal, which is communicated to said interactive means, for optimizing the operation of the furnace.