Join DMC at Automate 2024, May 6-9 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

Automate is the show for automation produced by A3 Association for Advancing Automation. The conference hosts leading solutions from around the world. Automate’s Conference Agenda features over 800 exhibitors, certification classes, and keynotes including 200+ speakers – free to all registered attendees.

DMC has worked in the Automation industry for more than 25 years. As premier automation integrators, our manufacturing intelligence solutions provide you with the information you need to make more effective business decisions. DMC makes your production systems more efficient, flexible, and reliable using the latest technologies.

DMC applies industry standards and best practices to implement modular, flexible, structured code. This makes your systems easier to maintain, troubleshoot, and expand. We can help you build an automated solution with experience in PLCs, motion controllers, vision systems, and more. DMC can increase your plant floor intelligence, adding database-driven recipe systems and web-enabled real-time data to your system.

We are excited to attend Automate and visit with our partners and clients.

View the 2024 Exhibitor List here.

Registration

Register on the Automate website.

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Testing & Certification

The test itself consists of two parts and takes an average of eight hours to complete.

Part one, Troubleshooting Prompts, requires the test takers to correct issues with an existing project by loading an Ignition Gateway backup into any Ignition 7.9 version. They must then identify and fix the problems, providing documentation with a description of each issue and its solution.

Part two, Development & Implementation, requires that testers implement a project according to a customer’s specification and submit a single Ignition Gateway backup (.gwbk). 

About Ignition 

DMC's expert engineers are committed to implementing advanced HMI and SCADA solutions that make use of Ignition's robust integrated development environment. From flexible licensing to adaptable, server-based solutions that allow it to run on many platforms, Ignition is a powerful but cost-effective option. 

DMC's Ignition Offerings & Experience

DMC has worked on large and small Ignition systems in a variety of industries including automotive, data centers, and energy. We have experience managing Gateway performance on Ignition systems with dozens of PLCs and thousands of IO points with historical data. We have also leveraged distributed gateway architectures to optimize performance.

Additional features we’ve worked with:

• High volume data logging
• Gateway configuration
• Projects on multiple servers that use retargeting to have seamless navigation between the servers
• Different PLC connections
• Modbus communication with Ignition
• JSON tag parsing
• SQL database architecture to store device metadata to integrate with Ignition

Learn more about DMC's Ignition Designer programming or contact us today and let us know about your next project.

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Expect a day of seminars, workshops, a technology automation fair, hands-on product stations, and one-on-one discussions with experts. 

Be sure to stop by the DMC booth and check out our DrinkBot demo!

Also, don’t miss out on presentations from DMC’s expert engineers.

PCC Oktoberfest Schedule

• Doors Open: 8:00 AM
• Seminars Begin: 8:30 AM
• DMC Presentation, Room 112: 9:30 – 10:20 AM 
• Lunch: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
• DMC Presentation, Room 117: 3:00 – 3:50 PM 
• Exhibit automation fair: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• Tour the WAGO trailer
• Tour the Siemens trailer
• Oktoberfest reception begins at 4:00 PM: Music, appetizers, games & refreshments

DMC Presentations

DMC engineers Nikhil Holay and Emily Shanker will each be presenting. For a taste of what they will be talking about, here is a short summary of each presentation.

Automatic HMI Generation and Mapping: Using SiVArc and the Siemens Open Library

Nikhil Holay – Project Engineer 

9:30 – 10:20 AM, Room 112

Summary: The Siemens Open Library contains a collection of commonly used objects to speed up PLC development. These objects have been field-tested and provide an excellent way to introduce people to Siemens Architecture and reusable objects. 

The integration of SIMATIC Visualization Architect (SiVArc) has produced a quick way to generate and map objects on the HMI screen. Additionally, the integration of SiVArc provides a much lower barrier of entry for new engineers to utilize Siemens Libraries, including the Open Library. 

These objects will have pop-up faceplates and on-screen icons created on the HMI that map to all of the object’s functionality through the click of a button. This also allows OEMs or users that are creating many duplicate screens to set up complex and flexible screens that can be auto-populated using HMI design standards and common PLC Function Blocks. We will demonstrate the time-saving and efficiency benefits of utilizing automated HMI generation capabilities.

Advanced Motion and Safety with the S7-1517TF

DMC Systems Engineer

3:00 – 3:50 PM, Room 117

Summary: My solutions don’t always require advanced motion and safety, but when they do, I use a Siemens S7-1517TF PLC. The motion capabilities of the S7-1500 series have significantly expanded in the last few years with the latest Tech CPUs and TIA Portal. Integrating this new motion technology with fail-safe technology allows the S7-1517TF to offer an alternative to the current SIMOTION controller and fail-safe PLC combination.

We will discuss how we are currently using S7-1517TF PLCs in TIA Portal to achieve coordinated motion and failsafe functionality. Our motion solution involves dynamically calculating cams, controlling non-linear proportional valves, and interfacing with 3rd party drives. This solution required us to leverage Siemens-made libraries and customize how we work with the Motion Technology Objects in Portal, including the use of PreServo and PostServo Interrupts and linking the Technology Objects to data blocks. Our failsafe solution involves three safety zones and a KTP700F Mobile panel that we allow to move easily between zones. This safety system can integrate the three zones, or it can separate them to allow each zone to function independently.

Additional Information & Registration

View the full schedule with additional course details.

There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more about DMC’s Siemens PLC programming services and our partnership with Siemens.

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Even though our engineers are already smart, they spent four days training for this Technical Certification in the SIMATIC Technology areas of S7 PLCs, SIMATIC HMIs, and SIMATIC Networking. Intended for Siemens PLC and HMI Solution Partner Application Engineers and Specialists, training and certification ensure our engineers are knowledgeable in automation solutions using SIMATIC automation products.

In addition to our internal expansion, DMC’s partnership with Siemens has grown with the development of the Siemens Open Library — an open source library full of S7-1200 and S7-1500 applications for use with Siemens Comfort Panel or WinCC Advanced RT.

By combining our knowledge and capabilities with Siemens products and their application in automation, our certified engineers confidently deliver expert solutions to OEMs and end-users at any point in the life of their project whether it be upgrading a legacy machine or building a new line from scratch. With so many engineers certified, we can work on anything from small projects to larger ones needing a strong development team.

Congratulations to these newly certified engineers!

To see how we can help you get started on a project, check out our Siemens PLC programming services and contact us today!

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Over 2,600 manufacturing executives, engineers and enthusiasts will convene to learn about the newest technologies, share best practices and ideas, and be a part of advancing the future of manufacturing. The Summit event will gather Siemens and innovation thought leaders to explore how digitalization is shaping the future of manufacturing. 

DMC engineers Gina Brooks-Zak and Nikhil Holay will be in attendance. Catch them in the Digitalization Zone, where they will demonstrate the Brewing Template. The Brewing Template was developed in conjunction with Siemens to act as a lightweight brewing solution for craft brewers as well as a migration path from Braumat Compact. It includes rapid development tools such as Openness, S7 Graph, and SiVArc.

If all this talk about brewing has you feeling thirsty, stop by the Networking Reception on Wednesday, March 14 from 4-7 p.m. to see DMC's Drink Bot in action! The Drink Bot is a portable demo that DMC developed which utilizes Siemens hardware to mix drinks. Enjoy an Italian soda or adult beverage mixed using Siemens hardware.

Check out an early version of the Drink Bot below.

As a proud Siemens Solution Partner, DMC has comprehensive experience with a wide range of Siemens technologies and hundreds of successful project implementations for customers around the world. Our expertise includes recognition as Siemens S7 certified engineers, SIMATIC IT partners, Siemens MOM Expertise Alliance Center members, and Siemens WinCC Specialists.

If you're planning to attend Manufacturing in America, please stop by the Digitalization Zone and the Networking Reception to say hello!

Learn more about DMC's Siemens partnership.

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We have grown as a company since then, and so have the number of Siemens experts at DMC! 

DMC is proud to continue to have the most Siemens Certified engineers in the United States. Thirty-one DMC engineers have met all of the requirements for the Global Technical Certification in the SIMATIC Technology areas of S7 PLCs, SIMATIC HMIs, and SIMATIC Networking.

Though they are already experts, our engineers went through an intensive, hands-on, three-day training course before taking the test. The test itself had a four-hour long practical exam as well as a written exam.

As Siemens puts it, “Before accepting companies as partners, they must prove their capabilities. Only then do we certify them according to rigorous, globally uniform standards, and systematically support and enhance them using the same criteria we apply to the training of our own employees.” 
 
The minimum requirement to be a Siemens Solution Partner is two certified engineers. DMC is proud to have surpassed that number with 31 certified engineers! Congratulations to these newly certified engineers who passed the Siemens Global Certification exam! 

Learn more about our Siemens partnership.

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What is the Wonderware SI Partner Program?

Per Schneider Electric, “The Wonderware SI Partner Program is a multi-tier support system that recognizes participants by their level of experience and certification with Schneider Electric brands, market focus, and industry-related expertise.”

“The SI Partner Program provides ready access to experienced, skilled professionals around the globe and is backed by an established product certification program.”

DMC as a Certified Systems Integrator

Certified SIs have proven project delivery using certain products, integrating solutions on the Wonderware System Platform, or with specific vertical industry applications or technology toolkits. To become a Wonderware Certified Systems Integrator, DMC needed two engineers to pass a series of certification exams. 

Ben Griffith and Furqan Ayub spent tons of time studying to pass the exams. Both needed to pass (4) 6-hour exams which is not easy! Both Ben and Furqan are now Wonderware InTouch Certified Engineers. 
 

 
Additionally, DMC needed to demonstrate significant Wonderware experience on past projects. DMC has worked on a wide range of Wonderware projects from small-scale to large-scale organizations. Check out a few of the cool projects we’ve worked on in these case studies. 
 
What is InTouch?
 
InTouch is a scalable, extensible and intuitive Human Machine Interface (HMI) and process visualization software.

It provides graphic visualization which takes your operations management, control, and optimization to a whole new level.

Wonderware describes InTouch as going, “beyond simplistic graphics to enable application builders to focus on creating meaningful content that will drive enterprise-wide operations productivity and cost savings.” 

They say, “InTouch empowers operators to optimize their routine human interactions with industrial automation systems.  This results in a quantifiable net increase in operator effectiveness.”

What is System Platform?

System Platform is an integrated supervisory platform that serves as the single source of actionable information for operational, engineering and corporate business users. 

Wonderware says, “System Platform empowers users with rich visualization, intelligent alarming, flexible analysis, and reporting tools in addition to plug-in extension applications such as MES, workflow, quality, batch and enterprise Integration for sustainable production and operations performance improvement.”

Congratulations again to Ben Griffith and Furqan Ayub! 

Find out more about DMC’s HMI/SCADA offerings.  

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The first ChUG meeting drew a fantastic turnout of around 30 attendees that came from as far as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Alabama. The group included end users, OEMs, and integrators interested in improving their automation engineering capabilities and sharing best practices. Siemens representatives also attended to share resources and support the event.

Program

The evening began with mingling around a great spread of appetizers and drinks. It was fun to meet others in the industry in a casual setting outside of conferences or sales encounters. Everyone enjoyed learning about other people's projects and companies. As one attendee said, "I'm just glad to know these other Siemens users exist!"

We began the program with a group brainstorm on what topics to cover in upcoming ChUG meetings. There was great feedback in shaping the direction of content for future meetings. 

Next, I led a technical presentation on PLC diagnostics. The content covered the basics of diagnostics as well as some tips for more advanced users.

Upcoming Meeting Topics

As a result of the brainstorm presentation, we generated this list of potential topics for future meetings:

• Success Stories – Share a case study demonstrating how you used Siemens hardware or software
• Bring a Challenge – Present a current problem to the group and get input from your peers on ways to approach it
• Lessons Learned from “Touching a Hot Stove” – Share some cautionary tales to help others learn from your experiences
• Siemens Technology Roadmap – Siemens product experts present future product direction
• Deep Dive Topic – Specialized topics, similar to those that may be presented at the Automation Summit 
• Eureka! Moments – Did you discover something really cool that made your life better? Share it with the group!
• Visits to Other ChUG Member Sites

Next Steps

If you’d like to present on one of the topics above or any other topic, or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in taking on a leadership role with ChUG, please speak up! We'd like to start forming a committee in the near future.

The current plan is to hold ChUG meetings every other month. Look out on our blog for an announcement of the next ChUG date. 

We're excited to help build the local Siemens user community through ChUG, and we look forward to sharing challenges and best practices as a group. We hope you can join us for the next meeting!

Learn more about DMC's partnership with Siemens.

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Fortunately, the Siemens support website has a great article that explains these different ways to access I/O for Siemens S7-300 and 400 PLCs. Here are some summary thoughts and highlights that I’ve picked out.

Here are the basics:

• Process Image
  • The only way to access I/O bits
  • Values are “buffered” in between scans
  • Limited address space for some CPU models
  • Notation:
    • Bool “I 0.0”, “Q 0.0”
    • Byte “IB 10”, “QB 10”
    • Word “IW 16”, “QW 16”
    • Double Word “ID 24”, “QD 24”
• Peripheral Address
  • All addresses outside of the process image
  • Cannot access I/O bits this way
  • The actual values are immediately read and written to physical I/O from user program
  • Notation:
    • Byte “PIB 10”, “PQB 10”
    • Word “PIW 16”, “PQW 16”
    • Double Word “PID 24”, “PQD 24”

As a general rule, I use the process image for all my bit logic and the peripheral addresses for my analog values.

For more information, check out the article .

Learn more about DMC’s PLC Programming services and contact us to get started on your next PLC Programming project.

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Configuring Analog Input/Output Models:
Open the Device Configuration for the PLC.  Add your module, then configure each channel’s properties.  Not that for current-based signals, the only range available is 0-20mA.  If your signal is 4-20mA, still configure it as 0-20mA and scale the input value as demonstrated below.

Reading an Analog Input Value:
Since DMC engineers are biased toward modular, flexible code, I wrote my own function block to process a 4-20mA analog input that I can re-use within the project and for future projects.

I pass in all the unique values for that sensor that are required for scaling, and pass out my scaled, engineering value along with an error indicator. 
 
Inside my function block, I first test to make sure that the raw input value from the analog input channel is within the normal operating range and set the error output if it is not.  The raw input value ranges are listed in section A.6 of the S7-1200 Easy Book located on the Siemens website.

For the sake of convenience, here are the value ranges: 
  Overflow = 32512 to 32767
  Undershoot = 0 to -4864
  Underflow = -4865 to -32768

Decimal Range:
  0.0 – 27648.0

Wire break limits:
  4mA = 5529.6
  3mA = 4147.2
  2mA = 2764.8
  1mA = 1382.4

After the input validity test, it’s time to convert the raw input to a meaningful engineering value.  For 4-20mA input signals, Siemens supplies a library function to convert the 0-20mA to a 4-20mA range.  The library functions are available on the Siemens website with instructions here:  Using the Siemens 0-20mA / 4-20mA conversion blocks.

Note:   I highly recommend modifying the standard library function “Scale_current_input” as shown below to handle a negative input value before the value is converted to a real number.

Once you have an accurate 4-20mA raw value range, perform the linear scaling math to generate your meaningful  engineering value.  For example:  Output = Input((Max-Min) / Range) + Min

Writing an Analog Output Value:
Writing an analog output is a bit simpler than reading the analog input.  Simply convert your analog output value to a percentage (0-100) and input that percentage into the “Scale_analog_output” library function provided by Siemens (see link above).  The resulting word value can be sent directly to the analog output address.
 

In Summary:
With a little help from the Siemens library blocks for converting 0-20mA signals to 4-20mA signals, analog IO on an S7-1200 controller is mostly straightforward.  I’ve tried to cover all the main points, but if there are any additional details that you’d like covered, feel free to leave me a comment.

Learn more about DMC’s PLC Programming services and contact us to get started on your next PLC Programming project.

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