Oven Controllers

I am somewhat familiar with Omega oven controllers.
I have had pretty good luck with their reliability and ease of use.
My question is this.
Is there a better way?
We currently have about 16 different profiles for different parts.
We use controllers similar to this one which costs about $1,000.00.
I guess they don't make the CN2041 anymore so you have to buy the CN3003 but I'm not sure???

I have 5 ovens.
When does it make sense to control these ovens with a PC? PLC??
Thanks for any suggestions or thoughts.

Is there any reason you require Omega? Yes, their stuff is decent, but generally very over priced.

There are probably hundreds of manufactureres of process and temperature controllers out there, Love, Honeywell, Omron, Eurotherm, Watlow, just to name a few.

Here's a quick link to browse if you want

http://www.instserv.com/prod01.htm

A PLC is not going to give you better control of the oven temperature than a stand-alone controller. Nor will a stand-alone controller do a better job than a PLC. If you already have a PLC in place, then it makes sense to consider implementing the temperature control in the PLC whenever you have to replace a stand-alone controller.

Your PLC will have to have thermocouple input modules available, or else you'll have to include signal conditioners. The PLC will have to have a PID function available. You will also need a method to get the setpoint into the PLC. Adding a PID function to an existing program will increase scan time. Be sure you can live with that. Adding several PID functions may increase scan time even more, although you can usually set things up so that only one PID function is updated in any single scan. You need to make sure that the model PLC you're using has enough memory to handle all of the PID functions you plan to implement. It's quite possible that an analog input module and an analog output module for your PLC will cost more than a single controller. It's equally likely that five analog input channels (ten channels if you include the setpoint) and five analog output channels will cost less than five controllers.

With a stand-alone controller, you can tweak the PID tuning from the controller's faceplate. With a PLC, you need to connect the PLC programming software or have a PID tuning screen on your HMI. Some people will say that's an advantage to the stand-alone controller, some will say the advantage is to the PLC. With a PLC you can tune all of the loops from a single point.

With stand-alone controllers, if one fails, the others can continue to control their ovens. If the PLC is controlling temperature and it fails, all loops are down.