A mill's experience with a plant wide information system

Boise Cascade's pulp and paper mill in Jackson, AL, USA, installed a local area network (LAN) and plant information data historian during 1995. The project and its profound impact on the mill is discussed. Consideration is given to LAN design, distributed control system (DCS) interfaces, hardware, software, construction, training and implementation. End user experiences are highlighted as well as system administration and maintenance issues.