Case Studies

plastic-pellets

Legacy Machine Retrofit with Siemens S7-1200 PLC

Posted in HMI and SCADA, Inventory and Warehouse Control, Manufacturing Automation and Intelligence, PLC Programming, Siemens PLC

Summary

DMC worked with a Houston-based plastics processing company to perform a controls retrofit on a bagging machine which was outfitted with legacy control hardware that was no longer supported by the original manufacturer. The retrofit utilized Siemens S7-1200 PLCs and Comfort HMI.

Solution

DMC leveraged our experience with industrial automation platforms to evaluate a legacy plastics bagging line and propose a controls retrofit to modernize the system. The legacy Telemecanique (now Schneider Electric) control software was evaluated and re-developed for a Siemens S7-1200 PLC. An HMI application was created to replace the obsolete terminal, improving operator efficiency and providing diagnostic information that was not available in the original machine configuration.

DMC worked with partner firms to quickly replace and rewire the controls hardware to minimize machine downtime, as well as provide engineering documentation of the revised system. The retrofitted machine has proven to be much easier for operators to use and for maintenance departments to service, and has dramatically improved the reliability of the system. 

Customer Benefits

  • Extended lifetime for existing infrastructure
  • Significantly improved serviceability 
  • Broadened options for controls support
  • Eliminated downtime due to controls hardware failure

Technologies

  • Siemens Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal
  • Siemens S7-1200 PLC
  • Siemens Comfort Panel HMI