Leasing PLC/HMI Configuration

raguilas

Member
Join Date
Dec 2015
Location
Sinaloa
Posts
48
Hi everyone

I have worked with PLC and HMIs but I have never found out if it's possible with any automation components brand to assign an expiration date for a software system

Let's say you want to lease an equipment and stop machine operation after a period of time, for example 6 months

The software I have worked with are Siemens and Allen Bradley

Have you had a similar need?

How did you solve it?

If you have solved it with a different brand please comment

Thanks in advance for your help

Best regards
 
Hi everyone

I have worked with PLC and HMIs but I have never found out if it's possible with any automation components brand to assign an expiration date for a software system

Let's say you want to lease an equipment and stop machine operation after a period of time, for example 6 months

The software I have worked with are Siemens and Allen Bradley

Have you had a similar need?

How did you solve it?

If you have solved it with a different brand please comment

Thanks in advance for your help

Best regards

You probably need to be very careful how you go about this from a legal standpoint. "Surprise I disabled your machine!" often doesn't end well. If it's part of an understood lease agreement, could be a useful enforcement tool.

That said, there are simple methods and complex ones. You could simply put the PLC in stop, or you could disable buttons on the HMI. Most PLCs can do comparisons to the current date, but be warned that if you don't set it up right, your customer might be able to fiddle with the date on you PLC/HMI and bypass protections. You could also try doing something like counting the number of days in production, but customer might be able to reset it.

Regardless, access protection on the PLC/HMI will be key. Different brands have different options there. None of my customers allow any of it; they won't buy a machine unless it is wide open and they get the source code.
 
Last edited:
You probably need to be very careful how you go about this from a legal standpoint. "Surprise I disabled your machine!" often doesn't end well. If it's part of an understood lease agreement, could be a useful enforcement tool.

That said, there are simple methods and complex ones. You could simply put the PLC in stop, or you could disable buttons on the HMI. Most PLCs can do comparisons to the current date, but be warned that if you don't set it up right, your customer might be able to fiddle with the date on you PLC/HMI and bypass protections. You could also try doing something like counting the number of days in production, but customer might be able to reset it.

Regardless, access protection on the PLC/HMI will be key. Different brands have different options there. None of my customers allow any of it; they won't buy a machine unless it is wide open and they get the source code.

Thank you for your reply MK24, I find it very helpful and yes it should be an understood lease agreement

I liked your idea about the date comparison and disable certain buttons on the HMI, in this case the PLC should be password protected and according to the leasing we don not provide the source code, our lease agreement only specifies that the equipment will be working properly during the leasing

Thanks a lot for your advice

Have a nice day, Cheers 🍻
 

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