Micrologix Obsolesence?

So a couple weeks ago a customer called me in to diagnose a PLC problem on a Micrologix 1100, and we ended up having to replace it. To my great surprise, when my customer called the distributor to order a replacement, he was told "those models have been discontinued, but we still have a few on the shelf".

Whaaat?! I immediately checked the product life cycle status. The 1100 was listed as Active Mature and the 1400 as Active. I also checked my distributor's stock and they had 7 of just that one model on the shelf, so I figured it must be an order taker who had looked at something wrong.

Well today I was on the phone with a tech at the same distributor, and asked him about this. He said that a sourcing problem with one of the components has recently signed a death knell for the 1100, which will be going away "very soon", that the 1400 will follow in 2-3 years, and in the near future we'll see prices start to rise as stock is depleted.

Has anybody else heard this? I checked again this afternoon and the product life cycle status still hasn't been updated.

Haven't heard that. I expected the 1100 and especially the 1400 to be around for quite a while.

Its somewhat old news, the 1400 is the only choice for now.

When you say "somewhat old", what do you mean? I did some Google searches before posting and haven't found anything on the forums or anywhere else. And as I said, the product life cycle status hasn't changed. I haven't gotten any notices by email or mail either. How did you find out?

Distributor Salesman early last year, haven't used anything other than a 1400 in a very long time, he was just warning us.

The 1100 is listed as "ACTIVE MATURE" the 1000 was listed as "ACTIVE MATURE" for years so odds are I will be retired before they retire it, it still will need to be listed as "END IF LIFE" for a few years before its gone so im giving it about 10 years. The 1000, 1200 and 1500 are dead but the 1100 and 1400 are still running strong.... odds are they are just trying to up sale you

https://www.rockwellautomation.com/...lity-migration/lifecycle-status/overview.page

Jeremy, if you need any I have a bunch in stock

Had a similar problem with a Beijers HMI (Mitsubishi Badged). Mitsubishi said that they were becoming end of life, but this was not true it was because they introduced their own GOT and sort of fell out with Beijers. I rang Beijers and they told me that the E series was popular so no end of life was imminent. However this then only lasted two years so beware, it's a sign of the times manufacturers are out to continuously update their products and sell more so I think the days of 20 year systems are out of the window. It will become like mobile phones new ones every year. Having said that, most manufacturers try it make the process easier to upgrade by having a conversion process in the software but this can be problematic and if OEM's refuse to give the source code or lock it so you cannot have a copy and they have gone to the wall big problems.

Rumors fly through the AB distributor network like a bad cold and are seldom true. The MicroLogix 1100 has been an extremely successful product for AB and it won't go quietly. Rockwell has always been very diligent with their PLC status information so what is posted there is going to be far more accurate than what a distributor will tell you.

geniusintraining said:

.... odds are they are just trying to up sale you...

Click to expand...

Actually I just replaced a stand alone Micrologix 1000 without an HMI
I used a Micro 820 and Red Lion HMI
Total cost was less than the cost to buy an old Micrologix.
Of course I didn't include programming costs.