Lookout Direct or C-More??

I am working on setting up several DL-06 PLCs on our printing presses so that we can capture production data (footage, speed, run hours etc.) I would like to be able to look at the data "real time" and also be able to have the data then manipulated into nice reports for analyzation purposes. I am fairly new to PLCs and we have just installed them on the presses for some safety devices. This prompted the data acquisition thoughts.

My question is this. I am trying to understand what I will need to get these PLCs on the network, have my manager able to graphically view and then compile his reorts (on all sorts of runtime data) and do all this in real time. I am not knowledgeable enough on the differences between Lookout and the C-more panels. Do they do the same thing? Do I need both? What are the advantages of one over another if they can both do the same thing? Thank you for your input.

Depending on the network...I'm using a H0-ECOM100 with Dataworks...


"we have just installed them on the presses for some safety devices" what kind of safety devices?

If you want to archive data for manipulation in Excell or other PC prgrams I recommend Lookout.

Yes data archiving and then reporting is what I am looking for so that MGT. could see exactly what is happening on the equipment. Such things as make-ready time, run time delay, total footage printed and waste footage and more. I am still a little confused as to what the two different offerings are Lookout Direct and C-more. Do they do the same thing?? What does one do that the other won't etc. Are there advantages to using both?


Gen, We installed "flicker lights" and horns on the presses that flash and sound an audible when the press is inched. The PLC also controls a "permissive period" When the inch button on the equipment is depressed, the lights flash and horn sounds for 4 secs, then there is a 10 sec permissive period that allows actual movement of the machine thus alerting the operator of pending movement. We set it up according to an ANSI standard.

Lookout is software that runs on a PC. C-More is a touch screen HMI interface. You can do a lot in the C-More but Lookout running on a PC would give you more options for data collection. You may also want to look at Dataworx to collect the data.

http://web3.automationdirect.com/static/manuals/pcdplcm/pcdplcm.pdf