Emerson Rx3i CPE310 or Siemens S71500

[mbajer]

Hello everyone,

I need your help. At one of my company instalations we have GE90-70, and we're going to replace it with some newer PLC. I prefer to replace old PLC with Siemens, but my senior colleague would like to switch old PLC with Rx3i.
In my opinion Siemens is more modern PLC, with more functionality, safety, profinet and profibus onboard(1516F).
Is there enything (except continuation of the program) why should we stay with Emerson/GE ?
Maybe the biggest issue is that I dont know GE PLC very well?
In my opinion Emerson PLC have old approach to programming.
Working with string is problematic, working with function block is problematic(why the hell should I switch PLC to stop when i change UDT or FB structer ?), symbolic addresing is somethimes problematic, and the best thing is that this PLC is at least 20% more expensive than Simens(For what?). The best part of GE is hardware - 90-70 working at least 25 years without any problem.
Has anyone had a similar problem??

 

[NetNathan]

You need to see Emerson/GE Machine Edition (ME) software before judgement. It is pretty powerful. Not too complicated to learn.
Also... The new ME can convert your old Logicmaster 90-70 programs.... unless you want to re-write them all to Siemens...

 

[NetNathan]

duplicated...oops

 

[mbajer]

I started learning PAC Machine Edition a few days ago(PAC 10.2 / 8.6). Thats correct, its quite easy to learn. The problem is that things that can be done in Siemens in 5 minutes take me 30-40 minutes in PAC. PAC seems to be an archaic program,with no graphical diagnostic for IO module, Profinet, etc. The main problem is that I try to approach programming Emerson PLC in the same way as Siemens. PAC seems to be made mostly for LAD and no object-oriented programming(At least that's how my colleagues program GE PLCs). Working with FBs and UDTS is terrible. It seems that the world has moved on and Emerson/GE remains in the same place as 15 years ago. The fact that the 90-70 controller can be replaced non-invasively with the Rx3i controller is the greatest advantage as well as the greatest curse for Emreson. They should create software from scratch like other brands did. I understand that each controller has its pros and cons, but for this price I expect more.

Unfortunately, due to Siemens delivery times, probably we stay with Emerson product.

 

[JesperMP]

20% difference in price should not be the deciding factor.

Deciding a PLC that is to be used on many machines for decades to come is not simple.
Emerson is not on my radar at all. I have not seen one in my career.
Looking at Emersons website, their PLCs seems to be quite fully fledged out. They have Profinet, Motion, OPC UA, Safety, ..
Only thing I would highlight if the same question was asked in my company would be that Siemens is the undisputed market leader and Emerson is almost non-existent on the market.

 

[mbajer]

Thats correct. Price doesn't really matter. But it's a bit annoying that you have to pay more for less
80% of our PLCs are Siemens. Some departments also have GE/Emerson. Young programmers hate them, old ones love them.