A method of controlling a production process including a process step for the morphological modification of a bio-material matrix comprises obtaining digital input data acquired during each of a plurality of production runs of the process, which input data includes information from radiation within a portion of the electromagnetic or acoustic spectrum having interacted with the matrix at one or more locations within the process together with a process control parameter and production event data for the associated production run; generating in a computer a prediction model from a multivariate analysis of the digital input data, which model links the information directly with one or more of process control parameters, production run events and process control settings; and applying in the computer the prediction model to interacted information obtained from a new production run to generate as an output one or more of a process control parameter a process control event and a predicted production run event for the new production run for use in controlling the production process.