Primer | 3 Maintenance Guidelines for Control Replacement

There are a number of key attributes, including integrated controller functionality, that maintenance leaders should consider when selecting a new controller or vendor.

With so many developments in plant floor technology and industrial networking over the last ten years, purchasing teams have been busy evaluating new products in an effort to produce better efficiencies in the plant. Many surveys show North American manufacturers are in the latter stages of their legacy equipment, with some control hardware lasting for 20 to 25 years.

As we’ve seen over the last eighteen months, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) transformation enables legacy equipment to retain relevancy due to networking advancements, such as internet-based gateways that move plant data to the enterprise analytics. Last spring, EP reported on HIROTEC (IIoT Trends: Pilot Projects And Silicon Valley), a supplier to automotive OEMS, using older legacy CNC machines to move plant floor data from many different equipment types to analytic programs via OPC UA networking.

Some key points below from “IIoT Trends | Pilot Projects and Silicon Valley:”

For the SCRUM project, the automotive supplier and machine-tool maker started with eight CNC-based machines at its Detroit facility in 2015.

The project involved the use of Kepware KEPServerEX from PTC (Needham, MA, ptc.com) and OPC UA network solution to move variable CNC-machine control data to the ThingWorx (Exton, PA, thingworx.com) IoT platform to produce real-time data analytics for executives, plant managers, and technicians. Hester noted that the control platforms and data types varied greatly at this business unit, which was one of the reasons for the pilot project.

However, enterprises also see an opportunity to move forward with new control hardware platforms to allow for easier maintenance procedures for operators and maintenance technicians. Below is the new primer, called “The Maintenance Pro’s Guide to Controller Replacement: Plan Your Strategy,” and provides key evaluation points for upcoming controller replacement strategies. Basically, 2017 guidelines on how to minimize downtime in implementation and production.

Some key points below from the Primer:

• Easy-to-understand faults that are automatically displayed on the HMI, web server and controller display, allowing line operators to diagnose problems before your maintenance personnel even leave the tool crib.
• Integrated, no-programming system diagnostics that are automatically generated during device configuration and setup
• Pictorial system overview with online diagnostics
• Download of code modifications without stopping the PLC
• Integrated trace, offering graphical representation of process diagnostics within the controller to aid in finding sporadic faults in the process
• Compatibility with current installed controllers through built-in communication options and connections to share data via EtherNet/IP with existing controllers

Purchasing processes can be tricky, but usually more voices in the process produce better results. Voice your choice.

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