“This saves a lot of time right from the planning stage
through setup and then start up and documentation and then troubleshooting or
maintenance. All the tools are tied together. It also cuts down on training
because you only have to learn one system.

At the end of the day an integrated control system of some
kind has become de rigueur in both discrete
and process manufacturing. The benefits of having some kind of all encompassing
system are too great to ignore, including: improved production transparency,
reduced downtime, reduced process integration costs and lowered total cost of
ownership. The next step is to maximize these benefits.

“Those early naysayers were absolutely right. TIA is modularity. But the modules are
inherently compatible at the foundation level, and that makes a huge difference
to the end user in terms of simplifying the operation and saving time and
money.”

For more information on SIMATIC Step 7 Engineering Software and SIMATIC Manager, please click here.