The machine was purchased second hand two decades before, and there was little suitable documentation available. The PLC inside the unit was still operating, but was starting to fail. Whenever power was lost, it was difficult to get the machine back online.

That is where we came in. We scheduled replacement of the PLC during a quiet time to a mode modern controller. And this time, the customer was provided with the full documentation including programming.

But that was not the end of this project. Some time later another part of the machine started to fail. This time it was the Man Machine Interface (MMI), also known as the operator display.

Spare parts were available, although at a significant cost. After some analysis it was determined that it was actually cheaper to install a new operator interface and its associated PLC than to buy the spare parts.

The commissioning went well, and the hardware has been working flawlessly ever since. The work was also scheduled for when no work was on so it didn’t impact the business with down time.