Abstract The sensor-base-management-system (abbr. SBMS) is a standard software package, designed to perform the control data aquisition and the control output data initiation, in place of application software. Furthermore, the distributed SBMS was newly developed to support distributed system architectures, upon success of the conventional SBMS. This distributed SBMS is assumed to be constituted on a distributed computer control system, where remote process input/output subsystems together with front-end-processors will be installed as local stations on the plant floor. In order to give the practical aspects of this distributed SBMS, the model system applied to a hot-strip-mill control system is outlined. The quantitative evaluation studies on this distributed SBMS, focussing the interests on data communication cost, data processing cost and system performance loss are done with reference to the above-mentioned model. The objectives of these studies are to give the system designers adequate suggestions on where is the balancing point between a distributed and a non-distributed architecture, what is the optimal number of the local stations, and hopefully more.