“It was a new world to engineers, so the challenge was getting customers to understand the value of change.
Siemens simatic s5 135u year built software#
A move from the physical to software required a new mind set of what was now possible and an entire set of new skills. That was the biggest barrier: the psychological change. But the biggest shift was that the functionality was ruled by a stored program rather than a hard-wired system. “Siemens were very aware of the cultural change it was proposing, so designed S5 to look familiar to a relay panel engineers were used to.
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“The arrival of S5 - which was a tenth of the size of your traditional hard-wired panel - was a huge advance. “In the late 1970s engineers were used to wiring diagrams and relay panels,” Norbury said. In those early years he was one of three product specialists out on the road winning the hearts and minds of production managers and encouraging them to take a technological leap of faith. who was taking his first steps in an illustrious career as a Siemens apprentice in Congleton, the same moment as S5 was being unveiled to the world.īut it wasn’t a straightforward journey from PLC newcomer to market leader, as Norbury can attest to.
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This includes Alan Norbury, Chief Technology Officer, Siemens Plc. The product life cycle ended on September 30, meaning spare parts will not be available and repairs not be possible for the S5 family of products, heralding the end of an era and a move to the next generation of Siemens technologies.įor many engineers, the end of S5’s lifecycle has prompted a sense of nostalgia and reflection about the impact and legacy of this game-changing box of tricks. Add to that control functions enabling higher-level tasks to be performed, and the robust and simple technical layout, it is no wonder so many are still in use today, with both small manufacturers and giants like Heinz at its plant in Wigan. S5’s main achievement was that it offered factory engineers a significant increase in computing power.
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Since its launch more than 40 years ago, the groundbreaking programmable logic controller (PLC) has automated countless machines and processes and transformed production in every industry imaginable.