Lafarge Corporation has installed several brands of distributed control systems (DCS) and PLC systems in our North American plants. In the past, the system selection criteria focused on state-of-the-art technology, plant experience and availability of local services. This paper describes why, with the rapid change of technology today, Lafarge has moved away from such a strategy, and why the AEG Geamatics B system was selected for our plant at Joppa, Illinois. The emergence of the so-called open-platform, and the evolution of classical DCS suppliers to PLC platforms made this decision possible. Implementation and key features of the AEG system at our Joppa plant are described. Also, issues concerning a corporate automation vision and the potential benefits resulting from standardization in a large organization are examined
