Abstract <p>A task of utmost importance in the manufacturing of competitive products is to enhance the efficiency of automated control based on optimization of the operating parameters and improvement of technologies. Considered below are the options for optimizing the control of operations directly related to material processing. The efficiency of control depends on the change in the trajectory of the processed material in the space of variable states and the synergistic effects that arise due to the complex mutual influence of input parameters on the control object. It is proposed to control the process of applying high pressure to liquid metal using a “reference model,” which is considered to be the law of pressure change over time providing the maximum density of the metal.</p>