Visy’s Gibson Island site is a large-scale recycling and remanufacturing campus, including a state‑of‑the‑art MRF handling kerbside paper and cardboard. A recent $48 million upgrade expanded its optical sorting capabilities, aiming to divert approximately 39,000 tonnes/year from landfill. After nearly three decades of service, the site’s ABB S100 control system had reached end-of-life and required full replacement to maintain reliability and support future growth.
This project involved a complete controls upgrade across the paper machine, stock preparation systems, and auxiliary plant. The complexity and scale of the change – involving over 3,500 individual I/O connections – was compounded by the need to complete all works within Visy’s 12-day major shutdown. There was no room for delay, rework, or deviation from schedule.
Photo courtesy of Visy.