Cost of PLC's through the years

[PlasticsDude 0]

How much did the average PLC cost in the 70's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's? Very curious about this. Some old timers could definitely answer this! Thanks.

[Sleepy Wombat 27]

It's all relative.... you pay the price for the technology of the time... today a lot of older PLC parts are 200% more expensive due to the price rises upon price rises of the years.... I remember a 386 computer was around the $4500 mark... back in the 80's

[BobB 58]

Here's an opportunity for Sleepy! My first computer I purchased in 1982. It was an 8086! It cost $1200 au at the time. That was a lot of money. It also cost $1100 au to upgrade the hard disk from 5 megs to 10 megs!! Relative. Edited 2 Feb 2007 by BobB

[BobLfoot 302]

I am thinking that in 1983 we spent $10,000 USD for a 286 based Xenix OS system with a 10 meg external hard drive which was larger than todys carry on luggage bags. Thing too 8 inch floppys also.

[gravitar 3]

computer equipment my parents bought in 1982: Atari 400, $400.00 Atari 410 (cassette recorder), $120 Basic cartridge, $50 That was pretty much the basic configuration of a home computer at the time. We had to wait a couple more years for the price of floppy disk drives to come down.. in '82, the Atari floppy drive was about $500. A comparable low-end system with today's technology would be about the same in today's dollars.. $400-600. Back then, an IBM-PC wasn't purchased for home use.. There had to be a business need to justify the higher cost. How much did games cost back then? $30-50. How much do games cost now? $30-50. I've often wondered why the price of computer equipment has remained so constant over the years. It seems like you SHOULD be able to go to a store and buy a decent (but not "cutting edge") system for $100-150, but no retailer I've been to has chosen to persue that market. The same can't be said about other consumer electronics.. My parents bought a 19" RCA color TV in '82 as well. It was $600, and I remember my dad raving about the deal we got. You could go to any big-box store in the US and buy that same TV for $100 today, and it would have all the bells-and-whistles of today's technology that weren't available (well.. if they were, they were big $$) back then. CRT manufacturers must have REALLY refined the process over the years!

[Clay B. 1]

When I first got out of college I made those floppy disks. The formating machine looked like a washing machine. Sounded like one on spin cycle.

[entertron 0]

When we first started, in 1978, our primary competition in the I/O segment that we targeted was Modicon's 084. I don't seem to have any of Modicon's pricing, however, we offered a 16/16 solid state controller - the SK1600 for $580.00. This was an EPROM only unit that offered no serial ports or analog but was strictly digital I/O. A fully expanded unit was 32/32 and went for $980.00 We then came out with a relay version of the SK1600 that started at $290.00 for 8/8. This was 1985. In 1986 we introduced the SK1800 (aka - the Road Runner) with a 1.7 ms scan rate. A base I/O was 24/20 and could be ordered with either relay outputs or solid state. Pricing for a single board ranged from $595.00 to $765.00. Options include HSC, dip switch, battery backed ram, quadrature decoder. A fully expanded system with all the bells and whistles went for $1345 for the relay version (48/40) and $1905.00 for solid state. There was even a fast scan option that enabled the controller to process 1K @ 0.8 ms. Before the days of software, we offered a hex writer in the $500.00 range. With the acceptance of the computer for business applications, we introduced our first programming software in 1984. The cost was the same then as it is today...lol. It was before my time here, but I recall our first computer, an IBM, costing in the neighborhood of $6000.00 Peripherial equipment included an EPROM programmer for $495. In 1990 we introduced our first serial port controller - SK1600-RSA that included an analog I/O channel. It's starting price was $495.00 for 16/12 configuration. Two revisions later, it is our most popular controller today. In 1991, we introduced our first micro - The Smart-PAK - 6 in / 6 out for $245.00 I believe the Micro 1 from Idec was out ahead of us and it listed for somewhere in the neighborhood of $257.00. In 1992, we made the front page of IAN magazine by offering a stripped down version of the Smart-PAK for under $200.00. Back then, a controller for under $200.00 was unheard of. With the evolution of the PLC, it became more than just a relay replacer. With the advent of more analog capabilities at the smaller end of the market, for which we addressed with the Smart-PAK PLUS in 1996 and 1998 with temperature capabilities, new markets and opportunities were being created. In addition, you have an enormous cross section of controllers to select from. Back when we started, the primary emphasis was on the larger systems, so there was not the competition in the small end that there is today. Imports were few and far between. With the life cycle of just about any electronic product, pricing, both real and historical should have come down. You will typically have higher prices with a product transitioning from its introduction to growth phase. As the product matures, new entries into the market drive the pricing down. In the case of the PLC market, you also have to factor in other products that can be used in place of the PLC as another form of competition that adds pricing pressure to the market. With the advent of the smart relay, a stripped down micro that you can get for under $100.00 this holds true today. With regards to Allen Bradley, the predecessor to the SLC 500 were the SLC50, SLC100 and SLC150. I can't seem to find pricing for these units here, but I believe they offered both modular and fixed I/O units. Through many incarnations, Koyo's DL305 (as it is known today) has been around since 1983. Companies such as Siemens, TI and GE private labeled this controller. Pricing is probably at it's lowest due to the fact that Koyo now sells this product on a direct basis. As stated previously, pricing within the PLC market is probably at its lowest point in its history...due to competition, off shore manufacturing, alternative products and product advancments creating new markets for the products. A product that went from a black box whereby market acceptance lagged product development to what it is today, a universally accepted product...is like going from the dark ages to the computer age in 40 years. Hope this helps. God Bless,