this same commitment from our software vendors. For customers who need to keep pace with innovations, Siemens offers a software update service that automatically sends out updates as they occur. Customers who do not need that level of support may obtain upgrades as needed.”

Bernie Anger, vice president of Software Technology for GE Fanuc Automation, Foxboro, Mass., says, “GE Fanuc has a philosophy—both for our hardware and software offerings—to ‘leave no customer behind.’ We continue to offer and support software originally developed by our acquisitions, Total Control Products, Mountain Systems, Intellution, CimWorks, and DataViews. We provide software conversion tools to assist with migration to newer hardware and software, including from third-party systems. For any new software version, we go through a Six Sigma-related process of research prior to development, and extensive field testing with current customers prior to broad release. We have a services team that assists customers and is monitored within GE Fanuc through a rigorous Six Sigma scorecard that charts service effectiveness and customer satisfaction, and offers a means for continuous improvement.”

Ralph Kappelhoff, Rockwell Software general manager at Rockwell Automation Inc., Milwaukee, states, “The primary problem we see is that customers often underestimate the risks and overestimate the benefits associated with major upgrades and migrations. Oftentimes, customers will upgrade simply because IT is mandating the change, not because it will improve manufacturing operations. The most successful customers evaluate the risks to their environments and then identify the business value of the upgrade to ensure the risk is balanced appropriately by the rewards.”

Scott Mack, vice president of operations for software supplier Citect Americas, Alpharetta, Ga., states, “Upgradeability has always been a priority with Citect. Even today, Citect users can upgrade from our DOS version to the latest (Windows-based) version 6.0 with no or little engineering work. Citect tries its best to keep older functionality while adding new features. Unfortunately, new and improved features do sometimes cause older features to be discontinued.”

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