Aracruz Celulose Upgrades Fiberline B Evaporation Unit Controls in Record Time.

Business Editors

FOXBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2003

Physical switchover from Fisher-Provox to Foxboro system at world-scale pulp mill in Espirito Santo State in Brazil completed in just over three hours

Foxboro, a unit of Invensys, today announced that Aracruz Celulose, the world's leading producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp, recently established a new industry record by completing the physical switchover of more than 1,000 I/O points from a legacy Fisher-Provox control system to a modern I/A Series automation system in just three hours and seven minutes. This control system migration was performed with the assistance of Invensys' migration experts at Aracruz Celulose's Fiberline B evaporation unit at the company's world-scale pulp mill in Espirito Santo State, Brazil. "This sets a clear record for Foxboro, and - to the best of our knowledge - for any controls vendor at any customer site anywhere in the world," said Mike Caliel, president of Invensys Process Systems.

"The success of this modernization project is the result of a partnership with Foxboro and Invensys that began seven years ago," said Mr. Luiz Renato Figueiredo, Aracruz's engineering manager. "During this period, we have worked together to continuously fine-tune the manner in which we plan and execute system modifications and improvements. With each new project, we have set new records of accomplishment."

This record-setting automation upgrade was performed using Foxboro's unique system migration approach. This approach utilizes special input/output (I/O) modules that are functionally identical to ordinary I/A Series modules, but are re-packaged to plug right into the existing Fisher Provox (or other vendors') I/O racks. These I/O modules enable the physical switchover to be accomplished without moving any field wiring, thus dramatically minimizing production downtime.

Prior to shutting down the existing Fiberline B evaporation unit control system on the scheduled system switchover date, the joint Aracruz and Invensys migration team prepared all I/A Series screens, defined the control strategies, converted the database and thoroughly tested all elements.

The same migration approach was previously utilized to replace the Fisher Provox boiler controls on Fiberline B. According to Mr. Floreal Puig, Aracruz recovery and utility manager, based on the success of these two upgrades, the approach is being considered for other mill areas as well.

Fiberlines A and C at the Espirito Santo State mill are already under I/A Series control.

Invensys operates in more than 60 countries, with its headquarters in London. For more information, visit www.invensys.com .

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