HMIs - which direction to take ?

We have few HMI's - all of them AB. Also we have FT View Studio license which we (few techs) use. It looks like the HMIs will be one of the things we will be implementing at pretty much every station. We run CtrlLgx PLCs mostly everywhere with Ethernet comms.

I am really good with software but FT View studio and it's quirks just don't make much sense. It looks like everything is way too more complicated then it should be.

So far I kept reading opinions on this forum about few different manufacturers and it looks like Red Lions are crowd's favorite.

I got assigned to choose future brand/model direction in order to take our plant in that direction.
I don't know how much different brands and models cost but it looks like AB is the most expensive.

We use HMIs as replacement for PB and SS, as well as alarms and recently as troubleshooting devices for sequence of operation and such.

What would be the most future proof route to take from here..which brands have the best record of being future proof and are less likely to become obsolete ?

With PB stations (OP panels) you add occasional button or selector switch, with these things from my (rather small) experience you have to re-do the whole thing all over, so that would be one of the factors to keep in mind while choosing direction in where to go.

To go with some third party SW/HW manufacturer (Red Lion) and then train few guys on it or stay with AB considering we kinda know a bit about them and SW is already purchased ?
I believe if we lose staff and have to replace or add techs it will be harder to find people with any exposure to anything but AB.

We only recently started using PanelViews so we weren't exposed to it as we are to CtrlLgx PLCs and I am interested in opinions since I don't have much exposure with any HMIs.

Thanks

What would be the most future proof route to take from here?

If that's your only question, stick with AB. All HMI got their quirks (panel-mounted). Redlion's software is free for download, you can try it out and see if you like it. Redlion also talks native Ethernet/IP so it's easier than some HMI which required PLC5/500 type addressing.

There's no need to "redo everything" on PV+, so I'm not understanding what the problem is. For ease of use or programming I would say there's no significant difference between PV+ and R.L. but R.L. got a much lower price-point. I wonder if some of your misgiving on PV+ is just on your unfamiliarity with the Studio software.

I meant when it's time to change the HMI as we had to change the CRT panel (Old AB panelview) since it got so dim you couldn't see screen clearly, all screens had to be recreated and everything had to be addressed. We didn't have any runtime files from this thing and I am pretty sure FT studio wouldn't make any use of it anyways (same as RS5000 doesn't care about RS5 files).

I find FT View Studio really counter intuitive and I know it's just a matter of getting used to it while using it more.

I don't think budget/price point would be a problem, and since we are all ready invested with AB I personally lean toward them as well.

I like ftview studio. outside of using a panelview I would say the red lion is your next best bet. I believe they have a new version coming out in a few months so you may want to wait.

We use HMIs as replacement for PB and SS

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What do you mean by PB and SS ?


Also, let me suggest a software called Indusoft. I haven't got any knowledge of it but I was asked to learn it and attempt replacing our Wonderware installations.

Push Button and Selector Switch.

What hardware does Indusoft runs on? I will take a look right away since Im not familiar with either Indusoft or Wonderware.

p.s. I see it runs on desktop PCs. That's also one option...since every station has a PC we are thinking of running Site Edition panels.

p.s. I see it runs on desktop PCs.

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If thats the case look at Ignition!!

For distributed, PC-based systems, I would choose Ignition.

For standalone HMI, I would choose Red Lion G3.

Neither is as tightly integrated with ControlLogix as FactoryTalk is, and the robust hardware of the PanelView Plus 700-1500 is in my opinion the stoutest on the market.

But the weak feature set of PanelView Plus and the long history of stability and performance problems with FactoryTalk View Studio and runtimes outweigh that benefit for me.

PanelView Plus is a stable product now, but with the all-new PanelView 5000 a year away I don't know how much investment RA will put into the FactoryTalk View ME platform after the v7 software. There will be a PV+400/600 hardware refresh this spring, but after that I doubt there are solid plans.

I will have the RA marketing manager for PanelView in my office on Monday at 11... I'm readying my list of questions for him now, and the future of PV+

One bit of history, though: All old PanelView platforms (Classic, Enhanced, and Standard) dating back to the early 1990's can have their runtime files uploaded, converted, and made into the graphics and database for a PanelView Plus application.

The conversion isn't automatic and it's not 100%, but it does illustrate Rockwell's unmatched reputation for forward migration of their mainline automation products.