A method is disclosed for monitoring and / or controlling a
chemical plant (12) with multiple asset sets through a
distributed computing system (10) with more than two deployment
layers (14, 16, 30, 32, 34), where the deployment
layers (14, 16, 30, 32, 34) comprise at least two of a first
processing layer (14), a second
processing layer (16, 32, 34), and an external
processing layer (30). The method comprises the steps of: - providing (60) a containerized application (48, 50) that includes an asset or
plant template specifying input data, output data, and an asset or
plant model, - deploying (62) the containerized application (48, 50) to run on at least one of the deployment
layers (14, 16, 30, 32, 34), where the deployment layer (14, 16, 30, 32, 34) is assigned based on input data, a load indicator or a
system layer
label, and the application runs in containers (46, 52,54) in the assigned deployment layer(s) (14, 16, 30, 32, 34) to generate output data to control and / or monitor the
chemical plant (12), - providing (66) the generated output data to control and / or monitor the
chemical plant (12).,