Ranting and raving

[trsptfire]

Does anybody else have a boss who thinks that the job we do is so easy, everything is in that plc there can't you get it to print on paper when it breaks so "I can see it". PLC2 to PLC5 to ControlLogixs conversions aren't the easiest programs to work on, but maybe with forum help maybe my head want explode.


Now I feel better! not!

 

[JesperMP]

Printed program listings belongs to the history books.
To find a sneaky bug, there is no other way than using the programming tool, the xrefs, online view etc.

If we printed our programs incl. all the xrefs, it would literally be thousands of pages. Make a few changes, you have to print everything out again.

 

[The Plc Kid]

I would apply the "Be Careful Waht You Ask for. You Just Might Get It Rule" Print him a 1000 page book each time changes are made and let him try to use that to troubleshot as long as he or the company is buying the paper and ink and covering you time why not.

He will prolly only ask for this one time once he really gets it IMHO.

 

[MikeW]

Nope, best way to educate the pointy hair boss is to have him watch you when you troubleshoot a problem and, as Jesper pointed out, everything is done online. If you are proficient with troubleshooting, you should be able to move quickly through the various screens looking at various items while you isolate the cause so you can correct it. I had an operator amazed last week when a new machine didn't do quite what he wanted and I added a new function on the fly by updating the functional spec as we talked, adding more code to the controller, updating the HMI, etc.

Printing out programs went away along with hard copies of the programming manual, you can find the answer faster in the online manual than the paper copy by using a search function.

The functional specification is where it's at, even he should be able to read it and possibly understand what is going on even though he can't follow the code.

 

[DaveW]

I still get requests for printout from time to time and I find printing to pdf and emailing the file does the job nicely. They can waste their time loading paper trays and killing trees if they want.

 

[Annon99]

Does anybody else have a boss who thinks that the job we do is so easy,

I did have one. Got so bad, I 'fired' my boss.

But .... I love to have a printed version so I can flip thru it and see many different rungs almost at once and make notes.

Unfortunately most software doesn't do a good job in printing and xref, now days.

8 1/2 x 11 just plain sucks with only one or two networks / rungs per page.

I long for a dot matrix 11 x 17 fanfold printout. I keep an old Epson printer around, just for this.

 

[The Plc Kid]

One thing that I like to do is using acrobat reader the newer versions is apply the call outs and sticky notes to a pdf of the ladder program and these make it very easy to find things that are used a lot.

It works well for our maintenance techs.

 

[Goody]

Of course all 'bosses' think plc programming is easy. We make it look easy.
No grunting or sweating or swearing, not externally anyway.

The laptop is doing all the work - all we are doing is opening the program and looking.
As I have said a thousand times 'How hard can it be?'

I have a customer that thought exactly like that. I was treat with almost contempt because they had to call me when things their factory electrician couldn't mend went wrong.
Just because I had the software and knowledge.

They decided to buy the software/laptop/leads etc and sent the manager and electrician on a course.

I still go there because the manager is always too busy and the electrician doesn't like computers.

 

[mike47]

The company I work for keeps a copy of all programs (hundreds) on the intranet network that can only be read or copied but only a few can write to it. If we make changes, we put the changed program with notes on a "transfer folder" and an elect. engineer will replace the old file on the network with the revised version. This way anyone can see and read the programs. Mike D.

 

[RheinhardtP]

PLC Kid i like the idea of this, what do you do when a new version of the software comes along redo all the sticky notes?

Of course all 'bosses' think plc programming is easy. We make it look easy.
No grunting or sweating or swearing, not externally anyway.

I must say i would find this calm behavior odd during commisioning. Have seen many programmers swear at a Laptop in the past, seems the norm...

 

[ChrisWOvivo]

Yep usually its the products we are forced to work with - being themselves and displaying thair characteristic traits.

Programming can be stressful when you have a large client looming (we have clients like Alstom, Keppel Seghers and Hyundai Industries building new power stations) but these clients usually use better products than those that are suffering from vendor lock-in.

Usually people who think like your Boss are just jelous that they are not working in Automation! Continue to enjoy your job!

 

[cornbread]

I work for the best boss ever.

Now let me send him this link...lol.

 

[Daye.04]

I'm fairly new to actually having to work with PLC's for a living. hence my bosses are extremely patient. When I see what others suffer trough, I'm getting more and more grateful for that every day ^^

 

[ShaRK]

I am blessed to have acquired the 5th great boss in ten years this past spring when I changed jobs. He had big shoes to fill but does it very well. The last one I had for six years and was hands down the most supportive, reasonable and fair person I've ever known.

I've had bad bosses in the past, so I do empathize with those suffering under their thumbs today.

 

[Marc_U]

I find the best solution to emphasise that PLC programming isn't easy, is by my habit, of when a PLC starts mis-behaving or acting illogically to go round the site, and borrow the largest hammer I can get, and just lean or place it next the PLC.
Just to remind it of my hardware access advantage.


It is amazing how fast those troublesome PLCs start behaving.

It also means that people give me a few strange looks, and wide berth. I'm not sure why??