AB to Siemens Transition

[Viks]

Hi Guys,

I have been offered a job with a very good multinational company to maintain and troubleshoot their automated equipment. This is a tobacco processing company and uses mostly siemens S7-300's and Simatic Multipanel HMI's and alot of siemens drives mostly on ProfiBus network. They do have a couple of AB and omrons but all new equipments installed since the last 2 years are siemens because they are now trying to follow the companies global standard for automation equipments. The issue is that my experience is mostly with AB controllogix,compactlogix, SLC's, PanelView Standards, PV Plus, DeviceNet and Ethernet. I'm mostly self tought and have been working on automation systems for the past five years. Do you think that my limited knowledge with siemens will give me problems if I accept this offer? I know that this would be a challenge for me to learn a new system but would it be that difficult given that the programming concepts are the same for all brands. I know that a lot of guys here have gone through this in the past and I would like a bit of advice on how you managed a smooth transition. Its certain that this site would be a great help in my learning process but if anyone can recommend me to some other training material online which would assist me in my learning, it would be deeply appreciated. Looking forward to your recommendations and suggestions.

Cheers,

 

[geniusintraining]

Do you think that my limited knowledge with siemens will give me problems if I accept this offer?

No, I do think its easier to go from Siemens to AB but unless its in STL (only) it should not be that big of a problem, buy a used 300 (or one of my trainers) and use it... if its a CPU thats not running a process then you will not break it or screw up the process, you can always just reload the program

I also am mostly self taught, but if you learn the basics (program structure) then I think you can figure out the rest

I am NOT saying it will be easy... but it will be fun

Best of luck on in your new job

 

[Viks]

Thanks for the advice,geniusintraining.

 

[DamianInRochester]

I agree with Genious. I would try and get a cheap used cpu and the software and just play. As is stated many times on this site, Step 7 is very different and can be difficult to warm to if you are used to AB. But it is definitely worth learning just due to the installed base and market share.

From my standpoint, it is the most difficult to learn because it requires a greater amount of knowledge up front to become proficient. Understanding all the system functions, what all the various blocks are for and the right and wrong ways to use them can take a while. The manner that the memory and databases and such are done are also quite different than AB.

A CPU313C-2DP would be a nice one because you get MPI, Profibus, and some on board I/O. There are quite a few 3rd party communication adapters that sell for a fraction of what Siemens comm adapters cost. And if all else fails, you can always sell it after your done with it and recoup most of the money back (except maybe the software).


Good luck and have fun!

 

[bce123]

I have been offered a job with a very good multinational company to maintain and troubleshoot their automated

equipment
This should not be as hard as jumping right into programing as you should have pre-written logic to follow and learn from. Good luck!

 

[Viks]

Hi Guys,

Finally I have accepted the offer and will be starting off on my new job from the 1st of October. In the meantime I found this page on the siemens website which I believe will be quite helpfull. Thank you all for your advice.

https://www.automation.siemens.com/...download_training_material/Pages/Default.aspx

 

[Manglemender]

Good Luck in your new job. Who knows, maybe you'll get to like the Siemens stuff - many of us do!

Nick

 

[Viks]

Thanks Nick.