Thank You Rockwell Automation
- Thread starter Plastic
- Start date
I was talking about the drives. And the market share of the ABB drives is huge. Educate me, why is AB giving free support for their drives and not for their PLCs?
I use Red Lions HMIs because I find that their quality and features are better than many others (including AB), not just because their are affordable and the tech support is free (and very good).
I didn't know it was free since I been accessing it using my Tech Connect user since the beginning.
The company I work for has spent several 100K in hardware and software from AB, why not give us free tech support? Why not providing free tech support when you spent more than X amount of money the year before? Even you can refine this system giving specific CompactLogix support once you spent more than X dollars on this PLC series.
Again, I don't want to fight anybody over this topic. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings either.
Hi all
Dont want to add fuel to the fire but here is some fire wood!!!
I have a few programmers working for me and a few electrical staff . I have in the last year carried out a couple of 100K amount of work for one plant and I would not give them free support. I often say that I have to charge or I can not give a level of support that is wanted and also it does stop a call on every little item without them looking at it first. I have a support contract with rockwell and just for the software up dates alone I find it works for me. I have had both good and bad calls to them in the past. I must say overall I find it very good as we do a lot of motion, HMI, Scada, CLX, Compact, Slc, networks, drives etc.
I only have the day time support and I find it works for me. I have only rang I think twice in the last year but both times I was happy I had support.
I see micro soft have stopped support on XP as from today after about 12 years and now I can ring rockwell on PLC 5, SLC both that over 25 years old.
Again just my taught .
Donnchadh
Dont want to add fuel to the fire but here is some fire wood!!!
I have a few programmers working for me and a few electrical staff . I have in the last year carried out a couple of 100K amount of work for one plant and I would not give them free support. I often say that I have to charge or I can not give a level of support that is wanted and also it does stop a call on every little item without them looking at it first. I have a support contract with rockwell and just for the software up dates alone I find it works for me. I have had both good and bad calls to them in the past. I must say overall I find it very good as we do a lot of motion, HMI, Scada, CLX, Compact, Slc, networks, drives etc.
I only have the day time support and I find it works for me. I have only rang I think twice in the last year but both times I was happy I had support.
I see micro soft have stopped support on XP as from today after about 12 years and now I can ring rockwell on PLC 5, SLC both that over 25 years old.
Again just my taught .
Donnchadh
Hi Donnchadh,
It was nice to have met you yesterday evening and I enjoyed our little chat. I hope you made it home safe (and didn't forget the bedtime reading!)
Elcan, your opinion is as valued as the next, regardless of how qualified you think you are or not. If you have any experience using any industrial automation product support, then you are indeed qualified to comment here. I don't think anyone is fighting here (yet!) and I'm sure no feelings are being injured during the making of this thread. I always say in these situations...leave your feelings at the door.
Another motoring analogy...
If you purchased 25 new cars valued at 20,000 every 2 years for 50 years from the same dealer, giving a total spend of 500,000, should they then give you the 26th car for free? Or every subsequent car thereafter?
I'm sorry, but "that sort of price" is a drop in the ocean. If you were to spend that amount every day for a year on their equipment, you would have spent over £1.8million. Compared to that, the amount you pay for support is also a drop in the ocean. You factor it in to the running costs of your business.
Just to add some perhaps unknown info for some to this discussion and add some balance...
While Siemens provide Basic free support, if you require anything above this level you pay for it. Either by using pre-purchased credits, or by taking out a tailored support contract. These, like Rockwell, can cost from hundreds up to thousands.
Siemens have the greatest global market share for industrial automation products. So why do they choose to charge for these services? Again, because they value it highly and the people that provide it.
Be thankful for what you get for free, but also be thankful for what you pay for. They are both provided by people at the end of the day.
G.
It was nice to have met you yesterday evening and I enjoyed our little chat. I hope you made it home safe (and didn't forget the bedtime reading!)
Elcan said:
Elcan, your opinion is as valued as the next, regardless of how qualified you think you are or not. If you have any experience using any industrial automation product support, then you are indeed qualified to comment here. I don't think anyone is fighting here (yet!) and I'm sure no feelings are being injured during the making of this thread. I always say in these situations...leave your feelings at the door.
Elcan said:
Another motoring analogy...
If you purchased 25 new cars valued at 20,000 every 2 years for 50 years from the same dealer, giving a total spend of 500,000, should they then give you the 26th car for free? Or every subsequent car thereafter?
beethoven_ii said:
I'm sorry, but "that sort of price" is a drop in the ocean. If you were to spend that amount every day for a year on their equipment, you would have spent over £1.8million. Compared to that, the amount you pay for support is also a drop in the ocean. You factor it in to the running costs of your business.
Just to add some perhaps unknown info for some to this discussion and add some balance...
While Siemens provide Basic free support, if you require anything above this level you pay for it. Either by using pre-purchased credits, or by taking out a tailored support contract. These, like Rockwell, can cost from hundreds up to thousands.
Siemens have the greatest global market share for industrial automation products. So why do they choose to charge for these services? Again, because they value it highly and the people that provide it.
Be thankful for what you get for free, but also be thankful for what you pay for. They are both provided by people at the end of the day.
G.
JohnCalderwood
Member
just to add my tuppenceworth...
Having recently come back to front-line Automation with a manufacturer that has many years-worth of Rockwell products, we have a tech-connect contract and P1/P2 stock, which we pay for annually, and - no it is not cheap.
But it is very worthwhile, as even the spares I have had to use this last year, the repair costs and downtime costs would far outstrip the cost of the contract.
Older parts are expensive (PLC5/80E new is £17k), and I/O cards are twice what they were when I remember them being always available.Hence we have P1 stock to backup any failures.
But I have had to go through an exercise of buying a new laptop and loading it up with Rockwell software and sorting out previously dodgy licence numbers. Support was extensive and helpful for that, even my contracted one-day visit per annum by the contract engineers, I kept them very busy, as they answer technical questions, and while not carrying out solutions, they point you in the right direction for the fix.
Upgrades from older systems (even non-Rockwell) with items that are obsolete - they provide a possible solution....
One concern is the "distributor" - Routeco, who are not always joined up technically and commercially with Rockwell, as we can negotiate good discounts with our Rockwell Rep, and there is a time-lag before Routeco catch up....
All-in-all, a very good experience, and I have been dealing with Rockwell since 1988, and some of there tech-support guys have been there since then, as they pop up from time-to-time with my fixes.
But then you guys here have also been very good, as it is amazing how many times I google a query that I may have, and this site appears almost every time, so between this site and Rockwell Knowledge-Base, many issues have been resolved. I think without a contract, you cannot ask RA a technical question on their website, but there are other ways......
Having recently come back to front-line Automation with a manufacturer that has many years-worth of Rockwell products, we have a tech-connect contract and P1/P2 stock, which we pay for annually, and - no it is not cheap.
But it is very worthwhile, as even the spares I have had to use this last year, the repair costs and downtime costs would far outstrip the cost of the contract.
Older parts are expensive (PLC5/80E new is £17k), and I/O cards are twice what they were when I remember them being always available.Hence we have P1 stock to backup any failures.
But I have had to go through an exercise of buying a new laptop and loading it up with Rockwell software and sorting out previously dodgy licence numbers. Support was extensive and helpful for that, even my contracted one-day visit per annum by the contract engineers, I kept them very busy, as they answer technical questions, and while not carrying out solutions, they point you in the right direction for the fix.
Upgrades from older systems (even non-Rockwell) with items that are obsolete - they provide a possible solution....
One concern is the "distributor" - Routeco, who are not always joined up technically and commercially with Rockwell, as we can negotiate good discounts with our Rockwell Rep, and there is a time-lag before Routeco catch up....
All-in-all, a very good experience, and I have been dealing with Rockwell since 1988, and some of there tech-support guys have been there since then, as they pop up from time-to-time with my fixes.
But then you guys here have also been very good, as it is amazing how many times I google a query that I may have, and this site appears almost every time, so between this site and Rockwell Knowledge-Base, many issues have been resolved. I think without a contract, you cannot ask RA a technical question on their website, but there are other ways......
dploof23
Member
Mitsubishi has a sizable market share and, in my opinion, the hardware is at the same quality level as Rockwell. Their tech support is free, and I have had nothing but good experiences with them. I could go into the fact that the cost is a fraction of what you will be paying Rockwell too but that could be a whole new thread.
Dave
Free Market = Choices
That's The Beauty Of It. It's your Choice To Use whatever product works best for you.
rQx
Lifetime Supporting Member
Since we are talking about support I have found the Siemens support to be outstanding. I can register free online with just a username, I can email them a question and I have either an answer on my email or a phone call in my local language within a couple of hours.
This is my experience and I don't say any other companies support is better or worse
This is my experience and I don't say any other companies support is better or worse
Hi
George it was also great to meet you a put a face to the name.
Dave
In Ireland Mitsubishi support is very poor. I stared first upswing medoc and found it great. The hard ware is good put does not have the same flexibility as ab I feel anyway. I have tried Mitsubishi support and I would rather pay for good support than get free bad support.
I also have mailed Siemens with questions and I agree they have rang back and I would agree I got great help. I would have also received a mail first saying in the true German way that I would get a call at 14:07 and to be fair I did.
I do think some get mixed up between support which is helping with a problem and training which is someone helping you to write code
Donnchadh
George it was also great to meet you a put a face to the name.
Dave
In Ireland Mitsubishi support is very poor. I stared first upswing medoc and found it great. The hard ware is good put does not have the same flexibility as ab I feel anyway. I have tried Mitsubishi support and I would rather pay for good support than get free bad support.
I also have mailed Siemens with questions and I agree they have rang back and I would agree I got great help. I would have also received a mail first saying in the true German way that I would get a call at 14:07 and to be fair I did.
I do think some get mixed up between support which is helping with a problem and training which is someone helping you to write code
Donnchadh
Siemens 'basic' support is quite good IMO.
I dont understand how it can be justified that you get ZERO support if you dont fork over some dough. This kind of pay for 'extras' that are actually essentials is something one should think an ultra-low-cost brand would try to sell to you, not the most expensive brand.
Phrog30
Member
Kind of sad the direction this thread took. I can call my local AB distributor and ask all of the questions I want... for free!! I'm sure the same applies to most distributors around the globe. Oh, that was free, meaning no dough!
James
Tom Jenkins
Lifetime Supporting Member
In the states Rockwell has very tough requirements for distributor tech support capabilities if they want to keep the line. Our distributor very rarely got stumped. When they did they usually went to Rockwell for us and got the answer for us. We paid for tech connect, but mostly so we could get the software and firmware updates.
Hi
I have to say that in Ireland the local distributor is very good and also rockwell have a pre sales guy and is very good on both software and hardware. He is very good to take a call and will if does not know the answer will come back with one. His title is pre sales but it does not make a difference if its pre or post sales.
Donnchadh
I have to say that in Ireland the local distributor is very good and also rockwell have a pre sales guy and is very good on both software and hardware. He is very good to take a call and will if does not know the answer will come back with one. His title is pre sales but it does not make a difference if its pre or post sales.
Donnchadh
Is that a 'distributor' or an 'integrator' or are these one and the same thing ?
I was thinking that maybe an integrator has to have a certain level of knowhow to have such a title.
Over here, distributors are merely sales companies, they don't normally have a technical staff (they can have, but are not obliged to).
Maybe it is a different way of doing business between our two sides of the pond.
But I still dont underst.... oh well, nevermind.
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