WHICH PLC TO CHOOSE?

[jstalman 0]

I started a new job recently as an in house automation engineer. The company I am working for has a parent company in Japan that builds some of our machines whether we want them to or not. I was asked to choose a PLC to have them standardise on. They refuse to use Rockwell Products so my choices are Omron or Keyence. My initial choice would be Omron, but having never programmed or use either of the programming environments, (I drink mainly Rockwell Koolaid) i'm not sure. I know I have a vendor which supports the Omron product line very well, which is huge to me. Not so sure about Keyence support. So which would you pick? Thanks jstalman

[JRoss 84]

I haven't used either. But good tech support is essential. I'd pick the Omron.

[Jay Anthony 118]

Sage advice...

[Crossbow 295]

Omron. Depending on the size of your application, I have been told by several AB programmers that the NJ and Sysmac Studio seem like the simplest conversion from AB anywhere.

[Arlen Jacobs 4]

Given those two choices I'd go with Omron. I like where they are going for machine builders; at least what they are saying and put into the software. It pulls together motion, PLC, drives, safety and HMI. Sysmac Studio looks promising, but new (bugs? or lack of features?). You can get a trial copy and take a look. You should do that for Keyence as well. Definitely, look at tech support and local support (distributor, field services). You already gave Omron a +1 so that seems like your standard to beat.

[IO_Rack 181]

I realize this post is a couple of months old but I wanted to note that Keyence Modular PLC's are NOT supported in the USA. Only the small brick styles. You can order them as 'Japan Only' items but they are non returnable. There is nothing wrong with the Keyence platform, in fact the hardware is very good and they are as capable as any other on the market. Omron is the choice though.

[Gian23 0]

I suggest you to choose Pixsys plc . Is a good choice because as they wrote in his website The Ladder PLprog programming environment is structured in easy-to-use function blocks, with counter, timer and PID controller functions. Is also supported in the USA.