Are you sometime self-indulgent at work?

Iner,

I worked for two oem's over a 20 year span, never the same job or machine twice, always a new machine to be built.
I program ladder logic and document it in such a way that all maintenance personnel with a basic knowledge of plc programming can follow.
you can see the program execute in a sequential order, rung after rung.
nothing fancy, I just keep it simple for everyone.
when I did get a call, I know maintenance has a problem and they can explain what the machine is doing and where it stops. it typically takes less then 30 minutes to resolve the issue.
maintenance gets the machine running, production is going, management is happy, my boss is happy.
yes, you can program the machine in 50 rungs where I might use 75-100 rungs, or use sequencers, sfc programming, fuzzy logic and so on, but why write code that only you understand?
james
 
I keep it reasonable and only mess with things I have time with. That being said, I do read up on my own time on how we can make things better, so I do recommend changes based on my findings and a lot of times learn the systems along the way.

That being said, we had a start-up which was being delayed by the construction crew downstream, so I implemented this really neat start sequence which leveraged the vibrators on very large tanks and played a tune as the machine was started up. It ended up sounding like a large organ since I was able to vary the frequency/duration of those vibrators.
 
I would occasionally play with a new process function if I thought it would be a sales point on future projects.

Since I owned the business most of the time I pushed my staff to get the system working per customer requirements in the fastest and simplest way possible. If one of the guys wanted to get creative they would run it past me, and we would discuss if it was worth playing with on that project, or something they should try on the next one, or just a bad idea.
 
Iner,

I worked for two oem's over a 20 year span, never the same job or machine twice, always a new machine to be built.
I program ladder logic and document it in such a way that all maintenance personnel with a basic knowledge of plc programming can follow.
you can see the program execute in a sequential order, rung after rung.
nothing fancy, I just keep it simple for everyone.
when I did get a call, I know maintenance has a problem and they can explain what the machine is doing and where it stops. it typically takes less then 30 minutes to resolve the issue.
maintenance gets the machine running, production is going, management is happy, my boss is happy.
yes, you can program the machine in 50 rungs where I might use 75-100 rungs, or use sequencers, sfc programming, fuzzy logic and so on, but why write code that only you understand?
james




Would you by exemple not use a FOR instruction on a indexed array and rather write 30 times the same line in fear that the users may not understand or make the effort to read Structured Text? It's a simple instruction but some people won't make the effort to read it. Would you also decide to not make FB for cylinders, motors, and write the same code for faults?

I understand trying to keep it simple but not using 50% of the tools available in the software because of fear it won't be understood is a little too much. Some smaller factories I have seen don't even have programming laptops and they are still running their plant.
 

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