StopSignSteve
Member
Hey all,
We're doing some initial planning for an automotive assembly line and need to decide on the controls architecture. Allen Bradley has been decided on as the supplier.
The line will have 4 'zones' each with 2-3 robots, fixtures, turntables, buffer zones, etc. These are staged in parallel to a degree, if one of the zones goes down, there will be another one to continue production.
Our debate right now is how to manage the controls. Should we go with only one Control Logix and have it manage everything, running lots of remote I/O? Should we put in multiple PLC's to manage each zone independently?
On top of this an MES is running, and we need to maintain precise production data across the line, especially if the MES goes down, which could be difficult to manage with multiple PLC's.
Lots of challenges here, but nothing terribly difficult, just looking for the communities opinion.
We're doing some initial planning for an automotive assembly line and need to decide on the controls architecture. Allen Bradley has been decided on as the supplier.
The line will have 4 'zones' each with 2-3 robots, fixtures, turntables, buffer zones, etc. These are staged in parallel to a degree, if one of the zones goes down, there will be another one to continue production.
Our debate right now is how to manage the controls. Should we go with only one Control Logix and have it manage everything, running lots of remote I/O? Should we put in multiple PLC's to manage each zone independently?
On top of this an MES is running, and we need to maintain precise production data across the line, especially if the MES goes down, which could be difficult to manage with multiple PLC's.
Lots of challenges here, but nothing terribly difficult, just looking for the communities opinion.