Abstract: A system for controlling the output of a rolling mill. An intelligent control system is part of a control loop between the mill and a PID controller. The control loop does not rely on the output of an exit gauge sensor in normal operation. The intelligent control system can be an artificial neural network or a parallel cascade network, and has an output node for generating an output signal that is predictive of the exit gauge at a future time. A comparator coupled to the artificial neural network output signal and to a reference signal derives an error signal which is fed to the PID controller for modulating the metal thickness.