How Kimberly-Clark’s DCS Upgrade Eased Scalability

By David Greenfield, Editor in Chief, Automation World and Contributing Editor, The Journal

“Despite the advances made in controller technologies, there remains a mentality in industry that says: If you need a control system for a process control application, get a distributed control system (DCS). But if you’re bottling beer and labeling it, you need a PLC,” said Kris Dornan, commercial marketing manager, Rockwell Automation in a press briefing at the 2024 Automation Fair^® event in Anaheim, Calif.

However, Integrated Architecture^® technology from Rockwell Automation challenges that mentality because it can do both process control and batch manufacturing with one control system, shared Dornan.

Integrated Architecture

is an interoperable unified control and information system that provides one control platform in a standard design framework for secure connectivity to visualization tools and smart devices across production disciplines. It can be scaled from a single machine to multiple lines and facilities. By replacing multiple, disparate control systems with one common framework, it allows more efficient installation, operation and maintenance.

Dornan added that, with Integrated Architecture, “you have one automation system, one set of engineering tools, one set of spares and one set of training tools.”

Kimberly-Clark’s Experience

Craig Stefl, senior engineer at consumer goods company Kimberly-Clark

, presented with Dornan to showcase the viability of Integrated Architecture.

Kimberly-Clark first adopted Integrated Architecture years ago when it needed to upgrade the DCS in its tissue manufacturing plant. Even though Kimberly-Clark is a member of the Rockwell Automation customer advisory board, Dornan said, “we had to prove Integrated Architecture’s capabilities to deliver what’s needed out of a DCS and a PLC.”

Dornan noted that the hybrid manufacturing environment at Kimberly-Clark’s tissue manufacturing facility made the company an optimal customer to take advantage of Integrated Architecture and its common platform for safety, process controls, cybersecurity, batch manufacturing, motion control and power.

This aspect of Integrated Architecture is critical, said Stefl, because production technologies “still stay in the field for a long time, so the ability to integrate these various devices into a next-generation platform seamlessly helped sell us on the Integrated Architecture idea.”

Integrated Architecture is about moving from the use of fragmented, different tools used to perform specific operations toward the use of consistent tools and data and unified workflows in one system to control it all, explained Dornan.

“So, if I'm creating a safety loop or a process loop or a motion loop, I don't have to cross-train people on different systems, which means I can use my operations workforce and systems more efficiently.”

“For Kimberly-Clark, moving to Integrated Architecture has been all about coordination and cost savings, because we don’t have to train our workforce on different technologies,” added Stefl.

Explaining Kimberly-Clark’s migration from the industry standard approach of DCS for process control and PLCs for batch or discrete manufacturing, Stefl noted that you don't make a move like this overnight when you have a big installed base in a brownfield plant like Kimberly-Clark’s tissue manufacturing site.

“Since ControlLogix was our standard controller, we were already on our way with applications like motion control. So, moving to Integrated Architecture wasn't a big deal once we determined it could work. But we’ve done this at a slow 10- to 12-year pace, doing at least one install a year while working on the next one. So, it takes time to make big changes like this. It doesn’t happen overnight but it’s worth it.”

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