What are the most commonly used PLCs today?

daff

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I may be re-entering the world of industrial automation after a long break from the industry, spending a good amount of time working on consumer software. A friend has ties to an integrator looking for technical employees. The last PLC I closely worked with is the SLC 5/05e, and I briefly worked with a CompactLogix model at one point.

I'd like to study up on PLC programming and software tooling for the most common PLCs. But.. I don't know what those are. Are the CompactLogix and ControlLogix still (?) the most popular in the US, followed by some Siemens PLCs? Or am I completely off here?

Thanks for any input.
 
A lot of players in the US market. Allen Bradley is still clinching on to the top spot.

Allen Bradley still has the Compact/Contrologix. New software suite called Studio (5000).

Automation Direct’s PLCs are a big hit because of price and free software and support.

Allen Bradley has sort of officially joined the less expensive PLC market in their own way. Offering the Micro800 series PLCs with free software (with some features excluded).

Siemens seems to be gaining some limelight. Most of our OEMs have switched from AB to Siemens.

Schneider-Electric (Modicon) has their corner, but I don’t think they are as big a player. But do offer small PLCs with free software. (SoMachine).

Omron has some nice stuff out with their NJ series controllers. Small and powerful.

I will note that a shift seems to have happened with HMIs. Used to not see them with built-in IO. Nowadays, you can buy an HMI/PLC all in one with IO. Not too bad for small systems. Most manufacturers have them now, except for AB.
 

Well thats going to make Siemens very happy this Christmas....


daff said:
Are the CompactLogix and ControlLogix still (?) the most popular in the US

For the most part yes when it comes to larger projects and they now have Studio 5000, but the MicroLogix 1400 is still a work horse and they are used for a lot of projects, Siemens now has a new line and new software and it is getting better TIA Portal is the software, the professional version can also program some of the 300 models

Welcome back and good luck!
 

Not sure why the surprise. Siemens can be programmed as an AB normally is, or by making better use of functions, pointers, etc...

TIA Portal is a more visual tool which certainly helps compared to Simatic Manager and Siemens is dead keen on converting installations by offering good deals on hardware, free (within reason) support for their products and a comparable price for paid support as well as offering free software conversions from Rockwell equipment to the TIA Portal.

Ask your Siemens rep to run a lifecycle check on an Excel sheet of your installed products and they'll send the result for free, ask the same to Rockwell and they'll send you a quote. Obviously, this is likely to change, but as with anything, one can always jump sides.
 
Not sure why the surprise. Siemens can be programmed as an AB normally is, or by making better use of functions, pointers, etc...

TIA Portal is a more visual tool which certainly helps compared to Simatic Manager and Siemens is dead keen on converting installations by offering good deals on hardware, free (within reason) support for their products and a comparable price for paid support as well as offering free software conversions from Rockwell equipment to the TIA Portal.

Ask your Siemens rep to run a lifecycle check on an Excel sheet of your installed products and they'll send the result for free, ask the same to Rockwell and they'll send you a quote. Obviously, this is likely to change, but as with anything, one can always jump sides.
I think the surprise is about OEMs switching to Siemens, not about Siemens being a better product. In my opinion, Siemens TIA portal is better than Studio 5000, even though most of my experience is Allen Bradley. Siemens pricing is a little better (but that depends on your deal with your distributor). And, Siemens tech support is FREE.
 

Allow me to clarify, we don’t purchase many machines. We tend to build our own in house. There is equipment that we have purchased in the past that were exclusively AB. The equipment is now being built with Siemens.

JesperMP,
I have started purchasing B&R instead of AB for our made-in-house equipment.
I really enjoy working with them.
 
Curious about Beckhoff and B&R in the US.

That is exactly was the reason of my surprise.

Not to say anything negative about either AB or Siemens products - both are excellent. But, if you decided to switch from AB and need an inexpensive yet powerful and flexible alternative... cannot say much about B&R but Beckhoff or for that matter most other CoDeSys-based systems seem like more logical choice to me.
 
Most manufacturers have them now, except for AB.

anyone ever ask their local AB peoples if they have plans of doing something like this? i could see something like a Panelview 800 with a Micro800 series style processor built into the back of it. would be excellent for smaller projects
 
I have not run across any B&R and only a few Beckhoff, Siemens is getting larger here but still not even close to the volume of AB

It's actually getting fairly close... Here in SC, they are almost neck and neck, but one reason for that is foreign companies are moving here in masses. Older companies use AB and new emerging companies are using Siemens.
 
For what its worth... I could only find 2018 for Siemens and 2017 for Rockwell, because they both are so large and into so many different markets I dont think you can find just PLC's they do have a automation section and you could look at groth for each of the past years

https://ir.rockwellautomation.com/p...arter-and-Full-Year-2017-Results/default.aspx

https://www.siemens.com/investor/pool/en/investor_relations/Siemens_AR2018.pdf

There is a bunch of noise on the internet about this but I think most is just guesses and not factual
 

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