Patent ID: 8031913

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a request for a change to a process parameter of an industrial process employed to manufacture a product in a factory at a centralized server from a remote location; communicating with a data store that stores threshold data for the process parameter and determining at the centralized server whether the change causes the process parameter to meet a function of the threshold data; in response to the change causing the process parameter to meet the function of the threshold data, executing the process at the centralized server with the change; in response to the change causing the process parameter to fail to meet the function of the threshold data, requesting an electronic signature from the remote location while executing the process at the centralized server without the change; receiving the electronic signature from the remote location at the centralized server; validating the electronic signature; and executing the process at the centralized server with the change in response to the validating of the electronic signature.