Very true Sherine. I will only use Woodward or equal quality MPUs.
A major part of my business is diesel generator systems for emergency power and prime power. I have worked with Woodward controllers (OK), Deep Sea controllers (OK for very simple systems), Crompton controllers (a bit surprisng actually are quite good), SDMO control system (don't ask), Si-TEC controllers (the best in my opinion), Regulatore Europa, Babcock and Wilcox controllers, Wilson Ireland sets (hate 'em), Caterpillar sets, Perkins sets, Dorman sets, Deutz sets, MTU sets, Detroit sets, Paxman sets, Watzilla sets, MAN sets, Cummins sets, English Electric sets, Allan sets, KATO, Leroy Somer, AVK, Newage, Stamford, McColl, and many other alternators, engines, controllers and a whole pile of PLCs.
At the end of the day you very quickly get to a point where you know what you like to work with and, more importantly, when to run the other way.
Then there are SCADA systems etc. Citect is still my favourite by a mile quite frankly.
When programmong, the most important thing to me is the programming software. Can lose a bundle there. I like Omron, as most are aware, and Citect. When doing my tags for the PLC and for Citect, I work in Excel. Modify, copy and paste into Omron CX-Programmer and at the same time use Excel for the tag dbf file in Citect. Just have to set up the column width correctly. At the same time Word is open and a graphics manipulation package as well as on the internet to find graphics for my projects. Very seriously considering buying the lates Dell 24" LCD screen (or two). Rave reviews and quite cheap. Better than monitors at twice the price apparently.
I do my own designs, quite often build the control panels, software, commissionig, SCADA etc. Then come the hassles over manuals.
When designing a system, I basically do it the way I want so that the software is easy. A couple of extra inputs can make the world of difference. Good to start at the beginning and finish at the end.
Good luck and regards
Bob