CIMTEC Automation has been selling GE PLC’s since the mid-eighties introduction of the Series Six. Many of the PLC’s are still running factories today but there is an ever present fear that should they fail a replacement would not be easy to find. Many controls engineers also recognize that a proactive migration while the system is functioning would be less costly, less risky, and less stressful to all those involved.
While it can be easy to push the latest and greatest technology there can be roadblocks on the path to a newer control system. CIMTEC has developed and executed many migration projects using these steps to ensure a migration can be done with no surprises and for as low a cost as possible.
- Customer provides current program running in old system
- GE product specialist will review program to develop comprehensive proposal
- Upon acceptance of proposal migration begins and involves many steps:
- Hardware evaluation:
- What modules can stay as is?
- What modules require new firmware or chips?
- What modules need to be replaced?
- Program evaluation:
- How many rungs of logic are we dealing with?
- How many instructions won’t convert well?
- Are the rung comments in the right place?
- Do tag names follow current software rules/conventions or will they need to be manually changed?
- How complex will the I/O map change be?
- Should functions that are available now but were not historically be used to simplify logic?
- Are there portions of the program that should be removed entirely as they won’t be necessary?
- How much manual intervention will be required?
- Program conversion
- Proof read of converted program (3 hours to 3 weeks depending on length)
- Manual intervention of converted program
- Acquisition of proposed hardware
- Testing of program in proposed hardware
- Hardware evaluation:
Delivery and installation of new hardware and converted program.
For more information please contact us
