LStewart
Member
Ok guys,I know there are a lot of very experienced people here and I would like to know what you think would be the best way to accomplish a project one of the ME's put to me today. I told him to give me a day or two to try to give him a game plan. Let me give you as much information as I can: We have an assembly line that has 3 different SLC 5/04 and 3 PV600's. It has one plc that controls traffic, pallet stops releases, and downstreams. When it was built I believe that everything was manual assembly and palm buttons used to trigger the pallet release. Then as time went by they added an automatic test station with its own plc,panelview and pallet stop and release. Then as more time went on a vision station was added with its own panelview, pallet stop and release. We have also added more cameras to the vision system, and a pick and place so no one has to unload the line now. This line has been modified a lot. It is greasy and dirty, wire and cable labels are faded, tie-wraps abound just trying to hold everything up out of the way, we are talking total nightmare. It is about 24 feet long. We have cabinets with plcs on both ends, one is about 6 inches off the floor underneath an operators feet. That is why I networked them so I don't have to be under the operator! Now for the project this fella wants my input on...he wants to clean it up! One plc controlling it all. Reroute all the cables, make everything nice and neat. My problem is that if I put a new cabinet at one end, none of my cables will reach from the other end. The machine runs 7 days a week and has for 2 years, so time is limited. What would be the best way to integrate all 3 plcs? Or does it sound like we are borrowing trouble? It would be nice to go out to the line and hook up to one plc and be able to make changes on any station. Plus some of our maintenance folks get a little confused on how to hook up and pick the correct node. This would eliminate that problem. What do you guys think, should I leave well enough alone or jump on this as a great improvement opportunity?
Thanks,
Lori
Thanks,
Lori