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A stopped machine has a cost no price list shows: the order that slips, the operator left waiting, the supplier who no longer supports an old PLC. This page is about the machine's software: programming, reading and correcting the PLC program, finding the fault on an output or a sensor, getting the data out to the rest of the company. Carrying that data into your management software is the job of Automation and AI; ASMPT SMT lines have an area of their own: here it's single machines and shop-floor PLCs.
The service covers programming on Siemens TIA Portal, diagnosis and changes on Omron PLCs, program analysis and the documentation that is usually missing, fault-finding on outputs, sensors and actuators, HMI and operator panels, and machine data made readable for your management software. Delivered means something precise: a copy of the program before and after, the map of inputs and outputs, the list of lines changed and why, and a sheet to read on your phone in front of the panel. The program is yours: copies and passwords stay with you.
One boundary, up front: we don't move wires in the panel. Moving a wire, adding a line, replacing a relay calls for a licensed installer, or your maintenance technician if they are qualified to do it, with the machine stopped. We bring the written plan — old and new addresses, a verification checklist — and update the program at the same moment. It starts with a free first look at the program and photos of the panel; the quote for the changes arrives by email, fixed-price, before we touch the machine.
Diagnosis starts from the program, not from the screwdriver. The method is always the same: save a copy of the program as it is, read the ladder section by section, rebuild the map of inputs and outputs — which are used, which are free, which are spares left by whoever wrote the program — and only then decide what to change. The October case: a packaging machine with an Omron CP1L PLC, for a company that packs in pouches. Program backup, a ladder change to move three outputs driving the relays of three axes, delivery of the updated program. The customer confirmed the machine is back in production.
Siemens TIA Portal and Omron: two different environments, the same way of working. On Siemens the foundation is a traineeship on TIA Portal, control panels and electrical AutoCAD: programming a new block, reading a drawing, following a signal from a terminal to where it ends. On Omron the proof is the packaging machine: program backup, a ladder change to move three outputs driving the relays of three axes, and the updated program handed over. Other brands are assessed case by case, after seeing the program and the environment needed to connect; if we're not confident, we say so before the quote, not after. One rule holds for all of them: a PLC doesn't get "upgraded" for the sake of it. If the machine does its job, the program gets documented and left alone; only what's needed gets changed, and every line touched ends up in the report.
Faults on outputs, sensors and actuators: measure first, move a wire second. The typical case: a PLC output lights its LED but the relay downstream doesn't pull in; or a sensor reads intermittently and the machine stops "at random". The program says what should happen, the meter says what actually happens: coils, contacts, module supply, terminal wiring. When an output is dead and a replacement module is nowhere to be found, the shortest route is often to remap the signal onto a free output and correct the program at the same moment — but only with the output map in hand and the machine stopped. Moving the wires in the panel is done by a licensed installer or by your maintenance technician, if they are qualified to do it: we deliver the plan with old and new addresses, the verification checklist, the photos to take before and after, and we update the program while the panel is open.
HMI and operator panels: the machine must stay readable even when we're not there. On the operator panel we fix texts and alarms nobody understands any more, add a recipe or a counter, show the operator what is blocking the cycle instead of a numeric code. This needs the panel's project file: if it exists, we work on it; if it's missing, we assess whether it can be rebuilt, and that goes in the quote. The rest of the handover is documentation, which in the world of machines is the part most often missing: a copy of the program before and after, the map of inputs and outputs, the list of changes and why, the technical sheet for the panel. PLC and HMI passwords, where they exist, go to the owner: the program belongs to the company, and whoever comes after us must be able to open it without asking permission.
Machine data into your management software: the IT/OT trade learned on SMT lines. Since 2021 the owner has worked on ASMPT/SIPLACE lines: for four years as a technician at a service company, and now with ElectrONIK Lab. Line software, the line's Windows Server and traceability databases are the point where a machine stops being an island and its data enters the company's systems. The same work, on a smaller scale, applies to a single machine: counters, states, alarms and cycle times read from the PLC or from the machine's database and turned into a format the rest of the company can use. That's where our part ends and Automation and AI takes over, building the flow into your management software; if that software doesn't exist yet, it's custom software. SMT lines stay in their own area; the owner's path is on the about page.
| Program available or not | with a commented copy the work is quick; if the program has to be read from the CPU, or is password-protected, the hours change — and if it can't be read, we tell you first |
|---|---|
| Make and generation of the PLC | Siemens TIA Portal and Omron are the ground we know; other brands and dated controllers are assessed after seeing the program, the environment needed to connect and the cables required |
| What there is to find | a dead output is pinned down quickly; a fault that comes and goes on a sensor takes hours at the machine, with the machine stopped for the tests: that time is charged by the hour, and we stay until the problem is solved |
| Who opens the panel | wiring is done by a licensed installer, or by your maintenance technician if they are qualified to do it, with the machine stopped; if we need to be there while wires are moved, our presence is priced in |
| HMI and panel | changing texts, alarms and recipes with the panel project in hand is one thing; rebuilding it from scratch is another, and that goes in the quote |
| Data into the management software | which data, how often and where it must land: reading from the PLC sits here, the flow into the management software on the Automation and AI page, with its own quote |
What genuinely moves the quote on a PLC: whether the program exists or has to be read from the CPU, make and generation of the controller, what there is to find and who opens the panel. Agreed together before we start — and the quote, numbers included, arrives by email: the initial diagnosis is free, tracking down an intermittent fault is charged by the hour, changes go at a fixed price.
ElectrONIK Lab is an independent workshop: it is not an authorised service centre and is not affiliated with the manufacturers. The trademarks and products named here belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify the technologies we work on. What each job includes is set out in the quote and in the report delivered at the end.
Real jobs, told without names: clients are named only with their written consent.
A free first assessment, a clear quote up front and a written report after every job.