Using virtual controllers in order to quickly solve delivery problems

Shortage of supply has long since reached the field of automation technology. It is not only the chip shortage that leads to weeks of delays in the delivery of controllers and other intelligent automation components. How does a supplier of SoftPLCs deal with this problem? What can he do in order to bypass delivery problems? The German trade journal "etz magazine" interviewed Manfred Werner, CEO of the CODESYS Group, on this topic.

Many machine builders are complaining about delivery problems with their hardware suppliers. The CODESYS Group should not have any of these problems, but how can you specifically support machine builders in case they need to change suppliers at short notice?

M. Werner: Indeed, our stocks are full. We are the market leader in hardware-independent control software. And we have been offering SoftPLCs for over 20 years. We have continuously expanded this range in the past few years. Today we offer SoftPLCs with and without real-time for Windows, as well as a SoftPLC solution for Linux on x86-based systems and for ARM-based systems. Even now, the aforementioned machine builders can switch to any device available on the market if there are delivery problems with the hardware they are currently using. All they have to do besides purchasing the new hardware is go to the CODESYS Store and download the appropriate CODESYS Control SoftPLC onto their new device – basically in the same way as you install an app on your smartphone. In this way, machine builders can turn an intelligent device into a controller in no time and program it with CODESYS.

Read the full article in German language in etz elektrotechnik & automation 8/2022 (pp. 16-18) »

This article is only available in German language.

Author: Ronald Heinze

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