Do you have a disaster recovery plan in place?
Do you have spare parts for your control system?
Do you have copies of the PLC or HMI Programs?
Day to day costs of manufacturing are always increasing and maintaining profit margins is always challenging. Most companies find that they need to use their equipment constantly and rarely have time to perform routine maintenance or upgrade obsolete control system components. The only time their machines are idle is when they have a failure.
- If a control system component fails, do you have a spare?
- If you do not have a spare, how long will it take to locate and get a ‘like for like’ replacement delivered?
- Will that item still be available if your machine is older and the components are obsolete?
- If the component fails and needs a program or a configuration file, do you have a copy, especially if the manufacturer is no longer in business?
Grey Wolf Automation LLC can perform a site survey of your whole manufacturing site, or a section of your manufacturing site, to compile a record of control system components, including programmable logic controllers (PLC) and human machine interface (HMI) hardware and software. We can also create a database of spare parts inventory, including the necessary revision levels of the hardware and discuss which of these components are critical or are long lead items. Also, using the survey, you can reduce the number of necessary spare parts if the same parts are used across multiple systems. Additionally, Grey Wolf Automation LLC can contact systems integrators or equipment manufacturers to obtain a copy of their programs or configurations files. If the program is no longer available, Grey Wolf Automation LLC can, in most cases, upload a copy of the program from the PLC or HMI to be stored.
Key advantages to using Grey Wolf Automation LLC for performing an Automation Site Survey include:
- Thirty Years Experience in the Control Systems Field
- Complete Understanding of Critical Systems
- Extensive Experience with Obsolete PLC and HMI Components and How to Connect and Upload Programs
- Considerable Familiarity with Older Manufacturing Equipment
- Numerous Contacts Throughout the Industry to be Able to Obtain Copies of PLC and HMI codes
- Vast Connections with Used and Refurbished Automation Component Resellers to be Able to Locate Rare Elements