Which PLC is widely used?

Does anybody have any idea which type of PLCs (I mean which manufacturer's PLC) is widely used?
for example in Industry I heard that OMRON is popular?

In the top of the list is AB and Siemens

Depends where you are... what's available and supported locally? Though Siemens is a great PLC, it doesn't make sense for us since the closest support is almost 200 miles away. AB is literally around the corner. I have no idea where to find Omron support?????

OZEE said:

I have no idea where to find Omron support?????

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Omron perhaps ;-) ?

OZEE said:

Depends where you are... what's available and supported locally? Though Siemens is a great PLC, it doesn't make sense for us since the closest support is almost 200 miles away. AB is literally around the corner. I have no idea where to find Omron support?????

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I'll second that. Use the one that has the best support for where you are. That may take a bit of leg work on your part before you commit to a brand, but thats better than trying to find support when you really need it.

OZEE said:

... I have no idea where to find Omron support?????

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tragically1969 said:

Omron perhaps ;-) ?

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Or here (plctalk.net) silly

It is a little bit hard to make that kind of statement, but I think it would be fair to say that Omron comes as a solid third in worldwide popularity after AB and Siemens. It most certainly offers a very extensive and solid line of high-quality automation products and services. Being a Japanese company, Omron is probably more popular in Asia/Pacific area (although there is a lot of Omrons in North America as well) while AB and Siemens, as it was mentioned before, are more popular in Americas and Europe respectively.

I just did a quick check on the web sites and it appears none of these companies have any direct representation in Kyrgyzstan, unfortunately. I think your best bet, if you choose to go with any of these products, would be to contact their offices either in Russia or in China - all three are represented there.

PS. Siemens mentions some kind of representation in Kazakhstan, which may be closer to your location, but unfortunately that reference leads to a dead link on their site.

Omron has lots of support in North America not so sure on other continents. Mitsibushi is big in China Japan, Seimens is big in Europe. Ab is the leading in North America

LadderLogic said:

PS. Siemens mentions some kind of representation in Kazakhstan, which may be closer to your location, but unfortunately that reference leads to a dead link on their site.

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Well, actually in Kyrgyzstan only about tens of people knows what PLC is? we are using Siemens for education. I visited some industrial factories and saw that Omron was commonly used. About support,I have thought that there is an Internet, and forums like this where we can get help? But I have never thought that the support center is so important...

hajy said:

I visited some industrial factories and saw that Omron was commonly used.

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How many factories did you visit to formulate your opinion ?

hajy said:

About support,I have thought that there is an Internet, and forums like this where we can get help? But I have never thought that the support center is so important...

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Internet forums are a welcome addition to real support. It should never be instead of.

You are asking people for their experience and their take on things, you cannot rely on it.

They maybe wrong, they may not understand what the real problem is and are not responsible for any mistakes made at your site.

also we can't supply emergency parts

Nor will any of us answer our phone for you at 8pm (Although I'm sure that some people here would love to sell you a service contract =)

The above is half a joke, but where I am at in the US, there are 2 AB (Allen Bradley) distributors within a 2 hour drive of me - each of them has a warehouse and if I need a part quickly, I have 2 places that might have it on the shelf. When my plant/production line is down and needs a part, downtime is often measured in thousands of dollars per minute- this is great incentive to have 'local support' for automation equipment.

Your value of downtime may be different, but when we say 'look for local support', this is why.

If everyone around you is using a certain brand of PLC, and the availability of support of not an issue, then it might be advantageous to go with a brand that someone else knows something about - it'd help the learning curve with each of you. (and maybe you guys could share parts if needed...)

-John in the US

Looks like modicon in out dated or maybe less problems with it,we have had modicon for about 20 years & no problems

Modicon is still out there as I've commissioned a couple recently, but they are suffering from an identity crisis: Telemecanique? Schneider Electric? Square D? Just when I think I've got it figured, it changes on me lol.