Siemens S7 engineer

[Stuartjl 0]

Hi, im wanting to become a professional PLC engineer. Specifically using Siemens S7, i have a good background in control and instrumentation. I have used Labview (10 years) for writing HMI's and communcating with PLC's e.g. OPC. I dont have any formal training in Siemens S7 but have all the literature and the software as my current job uses S7-300 PLC's. What do i need to know before i consider myself a Siemens S7 PLC engineer?? Stu

[Ken Moore 23]

When other people approach you and ask your advice about S7, then you can consider yourself a Siemens PLC engineer.

[Stuartjl 0]

Great, i must be one already then :)

[ianbuckley 0]

There are a lot of resources available, though admittedly a lot of them are not very user friendly. Obviously, you can read the manuals for the PLC line you wish to use. There are also online support resources that can help sometimes (technical papers and forums). At least around here, the local Siemens office has application engineers that are helpful also. However, picking a task and trying to complete it is ultimately the best training tool. If you can do this while not under a project timeline, all the better. http://www.automation.siemens.com/US/forum/guests/Conference.aspx?ForumID=43&Language=en http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/llisapi.dll?func=cslib.csinfo?=en&objid=10942580&subtype=133300&caller=view HTH. Ian

[Rowan Finch 0]

As already mentioned there are heaps of resources available. But experience in real world projects is probably the best thing to become competent. There are many many people that know S7, but most commonly from my experience, just the basics. When you can proficiently and effectively use and implement all the S7 basic and higher level languages (LAD, STL, FBD, SCL, Graph, Hi-Graph) as well as PDIAG as well as the HMIs (WinCC Flex & WinCC) with their numerous options (like ProAgent) then you become a power S7 engineer. This typically takes a couple of years once again in real projects. And now of course there is the new TIA portal software. Fortunately it is not a brave new world, but a new UI.

[kklanika2002 0]

Allways program useing STL it will give you the big picture of S7...........Cheers

[Ben 1]

You should definitely take some courses on Step7. There are many things that are different and should I say not "intuitive" in Siemens world. You will need a initial "this is how things are done" bang on head. More so if you are used to other brands of PLC. The Step7 programming guide is available on siemens support website, here is the link. http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/llisapi.dll?func=cslib.csinfo?=en&objid=45347992&caller=view I have done A-B, Omron, Mitsubishi and Siemens, Siemens still surprises me from time to time.

[Stuartjl 0]

Cool :)