SLC Support Downunder

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Join Date
Apr 2004
Location
rittal cabinet / e-bay
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55
We have been quoting a system based on SLC & PV to a customer in Australia.

Our customer contacted their local AB rep regarding support and spares availability of SLC in Australia. They were told that as SLC is not fully supported in Australia and that as its on the road to retirement, AB suggested they should go with CLX.

Have any of the Australian board members had probelms with support & spares availability with SLC?

Cheers,

F

P.S. We have been told that SLC has about 5 more years of active support where new cards will be developed, etc then about 5 - 7 more for support and spares ... after that, its buy your spares from e-bay
 
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I once had a vendor supply us with a control system that was based on a GE Series 3. Within a year after we installed the job GE stopped supporting the Series 3. This made for bad blood between the Vendor and I, and my customer and I. With some diffuculty we were able to find sources for replacement parts etc, but it was a diffucult go.

I would never put my customer or myself in that position again. EVER!

Mike.
 
What is the minimum remaining life that a product would need for you to supply it?

We go on 10 years, so based on wheat we were told by our AB rep., we would stop selling new SLC system in about a year.
 
You better check what is mean they not fully support SLC500.
SLC is lead PLC for A-B.
Control logix come to support PLC5 not to replace SLC500.
I gusse most of the common part are in stock and if you have something unique you have to keep it as spare part.
You have to ask your self what kind of support they going to need?
You can support them by modem.I dont believe that the Australian can not support your sprogram if it well documented.
It seems they want to charge you more for control logix.
I live in small country my AB rep dont have all SLC part in stock. Sometime I have to wait for part few weeks.If I need it urgent I can get it in 24-48 hours in over night delivery.I can get it even faster if I will chose to flight to Europe to bring it by my self.
It not mean he is not fully support SLC500.All AB rep in the States have all in stock? Did they support evry program?I doubt that.
Israel is grain compare to Australia.
 
That sounds about the same as the support schedule in the USA; five years for new sales, seven more years for parts.

Not bad, really, for a product line that was introduced in 1988.

I still sell smaller WWTP projects with SLC because that's what they're familiar and comfortable with. Most of the very large water projects around my office use ControlLogix CPUs.
 
Down Under

My company (USA) is doing a job for Australia. We are upgrading 3 systems and going to 505's. This plant insists on Slc's. There have 48 504's now. I think part of this problem of yours is with the particlar vendor near that plant. Our customer has no problem gettings Slc's or parts from his local vendor. This plant is located in south Australia.
 
I would like to think that after AB give up on SLC, someone else like Prosoft will step in and take over with the production of standard cards in addition to the 'specials' they already make.
 
Australia's not that much of a backwater if the yanks can get it so can we (we just pay a lot more). I think the aussie take up of Contrologix has been slow maybe the resellers are under intructions to push controllogix.

Id speak to the customer the thing to be really careful about is the cost of the software off the top of my head RSLogix 5000 pro is about AUD$12k. The cost of the hardware for ControlLogix is preety good at least when compared to PLC5.

Isn't the flexlogix an upgrade for SLC.

Andrew
 
I think I can safely speak for Rockwell Australia/NZ; I worked for them for more than a decade, and retain close contacts.

Technology support and uptake in this part of the world is an equal with, possibly ahead of, the USA. This applies to all technology systems, not just Rockwell.

In New Zealand we were applying ControlLogix and RSView into MAJOR projects way ahead of the USA and even the Aussies....sometimes to the despair of the US tech people who had to dig us out of one or two minor holes over the years :p

If I was buying any new AB system I would specify ControlLogix for any medium/larger/complex system, or if I was doing a smaller system I would probably use CompactLogix if I could.

On the other hand support in Aus/NZ for the SLC500 is 100% the equal of the USA, and will have exactly the same life cycle. There remains a strong demand for this product especially among those have a lot of it installed and have no particular need to upgrade to ControlLogix yet.
 
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Considering I can still order a PLC 2 from AB I cant see there being a problem in our lifetimes with the SLC platform.

Also our takeup and acceptance of the CL platform has been way ahead of the States.

Regards Alan Case
 

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