Siemens PLC Training

Does anyone know of any good courses for learning Step 7? I'm looking for something hands-on if possible. I know there are lots of online options but something more in-person would be great.

TIA portal or V5.5?

This would be for a support role. We're running into more customers with existing Siemens hardware and don't really have the knowledge to help them. 99% of what we run into is Allen-Bradley but we foresee more Siemens in the future and want to be prepared. I don't know if TIA or 5.5 would be more suitable. Which do you recommend for supporting existing equipment? Is one cutting edge and the other legacy?

Do you have any idea how old the existing hardware is. This will determine whether you need training/software for the old S5/S7 systems or if it is a newer system you will need training/software for the Tia portal. The Tia portal support some old systems to but only back to around year 2004 i think.

Jonas.

I have taken a couple in GA that Siemens offers

http://w3.siemens.com/mcms/sce/en/pages/default.aspx

http://www.industry.usa.siemens.com...lf-study-courses/pages/self-study-course.aspx

JBA-DK said:

Do you have any idea how old the existing hardware is. This will determine whether you need training/software for the old S5/S7 systems or if it is a newer system you will need training/software for the Tia portal. The Tia portal support some old systems to but only back to around year 2004 i think.

Jonas.

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We have the S5 software right now but nobody really touches it. As far as how old it is, that depends on what we run into. I'm going to figure if we're going to support anything we should start with the current stuff. Any new Siemens PLCs that come into the area are usually going to be on newer OEM equipment. Sounds like TIA is the way we should go.

I've used SiTrain in the past. Course I had to take was in Atlanta, but have been asked to attend classes in St. Louis as well....Not sure of other training centers.

https://www.sitrain-lms.com/Courses.aspx

dburnum said:

I've used SiTrain in the past. Course I had to take was in Atlanta, but have been asked to attend classes in St. Louis as well....Not sure of other training centers.

https://www.sitrain-lms.com/Courses.aspx

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They have a training center in Troy, MI as well, which might be good info if FactoryTalktotheHand is in MI like his profile says. However, most of the classes are at the main facility in GA, so to get the right class at the right time for you in MI can be tricky. If you have enough guys to train, they might be able to add a class for you.

I've seen Simatic Manager (Step 7 v5.5, sometimes called "classic") used across the auto industry, and a lot of jobs for the big 3 still use it when they go Siemens. This supports the S7-300/400 and has been around for ages. It isn't quite "legacy" yet, but it definitely isn't the cutting edge.

TIA Portal (Step 7 V13) is starting to be used at some of the Tier 1 auto suppliers, and in other industries like aerospace. Portal came out about 5 years ago, and supports only hardware from maybe the past 10 years (S7300/400 and the newer 1200/1500).

From what I've seen, Portal is still going through growing pains to some extent. It gets rid of a lot of the things that made Simatic Manager hard to use, but some features people are used to are missing. It also pretty much requires a large monitor and a beast of a computer (though to be fair, what software doesn't these days....). New users tend to like it, but I don't think many existing end users are in a hurry to switch from Simatic Manager.

I have attended many trainins at Siemens, most in Europe, but one in Troy. I would recommend, always taught by pro's. Cost a penny, but worth the investment IMHO

mk42 said:

Portal came out about 5 years ago, and supports only hardware from maybe the past 10 years (S7300/400 and the newer 1200/1500).

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Wow... how time fly's, seams like yesterday, Siemens and my local (http://www.eecoonline.com/) were GREAT in the introduction of the TIA 1200/1500 PLC's they had free classes every couple months, I took one of my employees to one, these are great classes, you get to meet your reps and its free... contact yours to see if they offer any, I did take the Step5 and Step7 classes in GA and they were very good but would recommend the free crash course any day (and they had lunch)