A system and method of simulating and optimizing industrial and other processes includes a computer that performs multivariate analysis of input variables and output variables to generate a data model of the operation of the process. For industrial applications, the input variables include process variables and the output variables include result variables from the operation of the industrial process. The data model determines contributions to changes in the output or result variables by the respective input or process variables and is provided to a predictive algorithm to identify parameter values for input or process variables expected to have a most significant impact on the output or result variables during performance of the process. The outputs of the predictive algorithm are parameter values that are provided as input or process variables to the industrial process for simulation or performance optimization or product recommendations/optimizations.