I think the newer folks will slip into working with the technology easier than the folks who were around when it first came out.
This old phart is still making the technology you kiddies will be using for the next 10-20 years.
Only those with retired brains will have difficulty.
Since they have been exposed to it all their life, it may come more naturally.
What? The technology wasn't as advanced but the old guys have experience. They know what works and what doesn't. ( unless their brain is retired ).
Another thing to consider is the reliability of the control system you are installing.
Think about how long that cell phone or that home automation system lasts before you have to call tech support. Now, how long does that PLC last?
Old technology is very reliable. There are a couple of things that I see that have hurt reliability.
1 ROHS
2 Surface mount devices with ever smaller gaps between runs.
3. Smaller or denser chip technology.
4. The market changes faster. There is huge pressure to get new products out the door quickly
Solder whiskers or bridges are a huge problem. Solder whiskers grow over time.
The gaps between runs on a circuit board are closer now. It is too easy to get shorts between runs.
We have had problems with memory chips from different manufacturers. The chips and boards pass burn in and test but fail after 3-5 years because the someone wanted to use a smaller or denser technology and the insolating silicon between vital areas break down.
Look at the latest Samsung Note 7.
Mitsubishi GX Developer 3 is not ready for prime time either.
I'd rather have the RIGHT data than MORE data. I think more effort needs to be made to really determine what data is required before polling every parameter under the sun just because you can.
Yes, it is important to get the right data and know how to make use of it.
It's the "magic box" effect. Back in the day, you got a blaring siren and a pilot light on a big alarm panel telling you where the problem is. You called maintenance or fixed it yourself. Now you may still have the siren, but your alarm panel is on that flashy HMI screen. Gotta call the person with the "magic box" because it must be a program issue, never mind the timing belt on the floor or the "factory smoke".
This is a training or ignorance problem. It is not a technology problem.
I understand that PLCs or motion controllers can fail but most of the time it is a human failure that is the problem. I see way too many times that people blame the PLC or motion controller just because it is there. It really p!$$e$ me off that people think their one of a kind machine is perfect and a product that is sold many thousands or 10s of thousands of time doing the same job is flawed.
People are the number 1 problem.
Plus, I think it ties back to "Big Data". You got 40 million parameters that you are told to poll every second and not only record it, but alarm if any one of them wanders out of a safe zone. When only 10 of them are process critical and/or a true alarm...
Again, this is not a technology problem. I think it is great that so much data is available to be captured but I also agree that many have unrealistic requirements.
Our experience is MUCH different. We provide the ability to record lots of data a 1 millisecond or faster rates yet often we get tech support calls and they say "its broke" but can't describe how or often can't describe accurately because what they think they are seeing isn't what is really happening. Yet they are too lazy or don't know they have a tool that can record the motion and send it too us or we can even use Team Viewer or Goto Meeting to see directly our selves. I prefer seeing directly ourselves because then we don't need to rely on the customer's interpretation of what is happening. When debugging, data is good.
PLCs do need to improve their debugging capabilities. What do you do when there is a serious problem that only shows itself every 3 or 4 days? How do you capture the event with a PLC? This is a serious deficiency.