Unusual Request

I think this may be a bit unusual, and I'm not even sure this is realistic or if this is the correct place to ask this question.

Please bear with me as I try to explain the situation I have and then what it is we are trying to accomplish.

I currently have 3 separate machines and each machine is using a Micrologix 1100. Each machine has several part numbers stored in the processor, through logic and a PanelView Component 600, when changing from one part to the next the setup people have to scroll through a list until they find the part that they are looking to run next and then select it. Not all available parts run on any one machine, but some parts can be ran on any combo of the 3 machines. The logic is written such that each part is assigned a numerical value, and through a compare instruction when that selected part entered matches the assigned value then it loads that part number and all of the required settings for it as well. My initial plan was to create a master part list of all the parts that we run between these 3 machines, then I would have to change some of the programming so that if(as an example) part 1234 runs on machine "A" and its numerical value on that machine is 50 but on machine "B" this same part has a numerical of 37. So creating my master list and reassigning numerical values to these parts that will then be the same for all 3 machines. The problem is whenever new parts get added, I will have to add them to all 3 machines.

Here is an idea that was suggested and I'm not sure if even possible. Since all 3 of these machines are on our network, is there a way to only have a single master list of parts and then allow all 3 machines access so that they can call up the part they need to run from this list and then have it load all the machine settings for that part? If by master list I have to have a dedicated computer or plc to store all the machine part numbers, then the other 3 machines can retrieve the required data from this main plc/computer.

Sorry for making this so long winded, and if more info is required please let me know. Thanks

Yes, this type of recipe control (where only certain part numbers from a much larger database are displayed) is pretty much what I do now. The only variation is that I use a part "style" as my separator rather than a "machine".

As for the database residing on a PC and then polling the PC for the recipes, sure. I would do that via a PC-based HMI program (AdvancedHMI comest to mind - free and powerful) and allow the recipe database to reside on the same PC as the HMI program. The HMI would monitor all 3 machines and, when triggered, would do the search and write the appropriate recipe values to the polling machine.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/advancedhmi/

I would look to add a computer running AdvancedHMI (AHMI). This runs on visual studio and is written in VB.net. This will serve as communication to your three PLC's over Ethernet and connection to a database that will store the master list. This is a free software.
http://accautomation.ca/create-a-plc-with-hmi-training-and-learning-environment-free/

Regards,

Very do-able in AdvancedHMI.

Hmmm, thanks for the responses! This will give me something to consider in the future, I'm sure I will have further questions as it relates to this task! Thanks again!