Is GE dropping the 9030 PLC?

At present, we use GE Fanuc 9030 for most applications. And GE almost exclusively. Our former distributor who dropped or lost GE has been trying to sell us Siemens for several years now. they sent me an e-mail late friday that GE was discontinuing 9030 production.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Maybe it is just a sales ploy. We WON'T be buying Siemens either way!

Thanks for any info.

pdavis

Actually in PLC terms the 9030 is relitivly new. If they did it would be like the shortest lived amoung the most successful PLC lines of all time.

I'd bet a round for the whole bar aganst it.

I hold you to that!

thanks

paul

I wouldn't doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if they're planning on making the 90-30 and 90-70 obsolete in favor of the new PAC Systems Lines.

The PAC Systems are (mostly) backward compatible and will accept I/O modules from the 90 series PLCs, so it wouldn't be too dramatic of a change.

Monroe's a small town, right? Like is there a lot of people hanging around the bar on Monday mornings??

Seriously though...I did some google-ing and cant find a hint of it elsewhere. If my memory serves me correctly the 9030 has been around for a little more then 10-12 years, and their still jumping off the shelves; And they are embeded in a lot of gov specs (made in USA). The more I think about it the more I dobut it. It just dosnt make sense..

Go find another distributor.

I have used them since the mid ninties, I think they were introduced in '90 (Series 90). There are just so many out there. I don't think that Allen Bradley had near as many PLC2 units out there.

They told me they had no plans to drop the Micro 90's. Three months later, GONE!

The VM micro and nano are okay.

My GE rep and tech support guy hinted they may be going last year. He just left for private industry. Does he know something? I interview on the 21st for his job. I ask them about it.

Your Siemen's rep, I think he taught me GE LM90 and State Logic.

Any good local beers up there now?

We need to get Mike up there for Heidi-Fest!

They still have Depot days in June?

regards.....casey

I'm with elevmike. It would be a really bad business move to dump the 90/30 line. This is their workhorse, well established, and one of the best controllers I've ever used.

Regards,

Chris

If they would just get rid of %

Ron, what's wrong with %?

%I, %M, %Q, %R and you pretty much have to type it in, why is it used? Just adds keystrokes that arent necessary. It got a little easier in VersaPro if you setup your data tables first then you can select from the list but still have to type in that % sign everywhere.

Personally I have never been that fond of GE products or dealing with GE.

Ron,

If you want to type %I5 or %M6 for instance just type 5i or 6m instead. It will format it for you.

I think I learned that already but havent really used VP in so long I didnt think about it. The % thing still aggrevates me, maybe its from those years using LM90 and typing it in. VP is slightly better than LM90 but still not all it could/should have been.

Its just me mainly.

The "%" is an IEC Standard, it's not going away soon but 1I, 1M etc. is the best 90 Series alternative, the PAC does not need Addresses.
GE Fanuc is not going to discontinue the 90-30 or 90-70 in the near future, there is just too much revenue generated by these two product lines for that to happen. I suspect that we will see them change as technology changes and chips become unavailable, but GE Fanuc has a history of stock pyling obsolete chips so that typically they are phased out over a period of time. Look at the Series 6, it took about 7 years from the time GE Fanuc announced its retirement until they stopped selling new ones.
I just returned from a couple of days of training on the PAC system and the above is how this question was answered by GE Fanuc management. I for one believe them on this one.
The Series 90 Micro was out of their control, the factory that built them one day announced that x months from now we are closing. GE Fanuc made a bad decision by not having more than one source, or at least better control of the source. I doubt that will happen again in my life time.
The comment by the Siemens distributor is what gives distributors and reps. a bad name and it is really bad form and usually indacates desperation.

Russ

Glad to hear that.

I have been upset at GE for several years becuase of the Micro 90. I think that I once knew they were not the real manufacturer. The small VersaMax units do a nice job, and if I had to admit it, probably physically hold up better.

Where was this school located? I am trying to get a distributor to send me to some GE schools (at his expense).

best regards.....casey