Until recently, WestRock was America’s 2nd largest packaging company with over 50,000 staff and $21.3 billion in annual revenue. In 2022, WestRock embarked on an aggressive enterprise analytics and optimization initiative. WestRock sought to standardize its existing PI System, expand its AssetFramework database and to deploy Control Station’s PlantESP Loop Performance Monitoring solution at each of the company’s twenty-three mills. WestRock’s goal was to achieve optimal and sustainable performance at each of the mills, contributing to increased throughput and reduced production-related waste.
As Senior Manager of Process Control and Optimization, Eric Gilbert was the driving force behind this analytics and optimization project. At the time WestRock had been a long-standing user of PI, having first deployed the PI System in 2001 as part of an enterprise licensing contract with OSIsoft. Similarly, WestRock was very familiar with the value of control loop performance monitoring [CLPM] technology, having installed different CLPM solutions over the years at various of its production facilities.
 
In order for WestRock to achieve its vision for an optimal and sustainable solution, Eric recognized the need for a singular, fully integrated solution that could be deployed across the enterprise. That solution needed to build upon the company’s existing investment in PI and, ultimately, it needed to be easily supported by WestRock’s centralized IT and controls teams. With PI as a foundation, the chosen CLPM solution would need to align with the latest AVEVA standards for organizing and processing an enormous amount of process data.
 
WestRock’s PI System reconfiguration and its deployment of PlantESP was completed in less than the prescribed 18-months. More importantly, in the 6-months immediately following the project’s completion, WestRock documented performance improvements valued at nearly three-times the project’s cost. WestRock was subsequently acquired by Ireland-based Smurfit Kappa in June 2024, creating the world's largest paper and packaging company.