By Cale Tomlin, PSE/CHE ’27

My name is Cale Tomlin and I am from Orlando, FL, currently a senior dual majoring in Paper Science & Engineering and Chemical Engineering. I have completed three internships with Smurfit Westrock – two at the Seminole mill in Jacksonville, FL,
and this past summer in Evadale, TX. This past summer at the Evadale mill was an
experience I will never forget. During my second internship, I developed a love for process controls that led me to complete a process controls internship this summer.

My day-to-day tasks included practice coding in the DCS, meetings with my department, and daily operations’ troubleshooting. The department gave me access to code in the DCS which provided everyday, hands-on experience that a full-time engineer would encounter. The Evadale mill has four DCS systems, one being DeltaV which controls the fiber line. One of my major projects was to code and install a fully automatic control module to execute a two-phase sodium chlorate unloading sequence in the DeltaV system. This was a system I had not worked with yet, and with the personnel changes, we had a limited knowledge base about the system. However, with access to the DCS, Evadale invested in a simulator to build and test modules before they are loaded into the system. Everyday at work when I wasn’t troubleshooting with operations, I was able build and test my system. Before implementation, operators were filling inconsistent amounts of water to
the unload tank while wearing full fire-resistant attire in the hot Texas heat. After
implementation, operators would input a total number of gallons of dilution water to add alongside the concentration of the tank and select “Start” from their display. The control module would not only add water to dilute the sodium chlorate, but it would also add the exact amount of water needed to achieve the desired concentration of the solution. This project was beneficial for the mill because it reduced variation of
concentrations in the sodium chlorate unload tank as well as eliminating the risk of heat-related injuries for operators. From a intern perspective, this project allowed me to enhance my experience on a brand-new system I have never worked with and furthered my process controls knowledge, all while growing my soft skills such as working with operators and leading team meetings.

To say the least, this experience was genuinely one-of-a-kind, and it would not
have happened without the backing of the Paper Science & Engineering department
and the TAPPI foundation. With this, I am very grateful for everyone who has made this experience possible and cannot wait to apply these learnings in my future career.