STEM Apps

After the prototype, how to charge for copies?

6 posts in this topic

I am in the position to create multiple copies of a prototype PLC & HMI program I developed for a customer. The customer will build the control panel. He is in the position to sell 50 units or more. I can't seem to find any information on a scheme and a cost for duplicating the program for the customer. 

Who has done this before and what should we be considering in terms of cost and protection of the programs to duplicate it multiple times?

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From a strictly financial approach you can estimate how much time you'll spend copying, customizing and commissioning each built unit, times your desired hourly wage.  Keep in mind you'll not only be duplicating the PLC Program, the HNI program but any User Documentation and Ebnd Customers usually want some startup support.

Now as to the question of "intellectual Property Protection".  Depending on whose PLC & HMI you used there are passwords and protections that can be leveraged.  Keep in mind some end users have hard and fast rules against buying such products which they can't troubleshoot and debug in their environment.  There is also the GPL Licensing approach which "gives" the source away, but requires you to be credited with each successive cloning or reuse.  

Having not sold my work "freelance" as it is, but always been an employee I haven't had your issue to actually encounter.

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I'll have to have these types of discussions with the customer when we convert the prototype to a production unit. I think that remote support equipment should be part of the package too as these units will be going to customers with no technical knowledge.

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5 hours ago, STEM Apps said:

when we convert the prototype to a production unit

Setting pricing that late is sure to [expletive] off your client.  If purely PLC and HMI code, I don't charge for copies.  Just a fee to perform the deployment, plus expenses.  Platforms that can enforce licensing for a fee are not common and not end-user friendly.  (I happen to do this for Ignition modules, where Ignition can enforce for me.)

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From an end user's perspective...

We're working with an integrator to design/build/test/refine a prototype for us that will then be copied 3 more times (4 total). The quote for the first one included a lot of engineering time but the subsequent units were a lot cheaper because they're just building/installing them. The software will already be done and will require little if any modification. We had it stipulated very early on that we own the final product, including the design and programming and will receive a full package of documentation including drawings and source files (and not as pdf either).

Locking the code, charging more to "license" the software, etc., is a good way to make me not want to buy from you again. Of course, licenses for installed runtimes that you have to have, like for a SCADA package or something, are different. Those licenses, however, should be included in the cost of the build and transferred to the end user. The fact that the end users don't have technical folks on staff may change things slightly, but I'd say only to the extent that you build in whatever you need for remote support.

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Thanks all. Just wanted to explore the experiences of others and see if there was some kind of consensus.

I would of course love to get a cut of each machine but in the end I think I'll just end up supplying the PLC and HMI, make any minor changes like IO changes or customer identification, load the programs, lock them if the customer requests and take my markup on the equipment and the time it took to prep and be quite happy with that.

Appreciate all your input!!

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