Industrial control hardware is still experiencing supply chain issues—even now in August 2023. Many popular brands of PLCs and I/O cards are still taking upwards of 4-6 months to arrive once ordered. This can make it difficult to launch new projects and get a return on investment.

Luckily, for most applications*, Corso Systems has a well-tested, proven formula for improving process control systems without having to wait until next year for hardware to arrive.

Start with Opto 22 & groov RIO/EPIC

There are many approaches you can take when upgrading PLC hardware. You can keep what you have and add to it, rip out what you have and replace it with new hardware, or add to what you have and plan an upgrade to a new system over time. With aging hardware in many facilities and lead times spanning into double digit numbers of months, each day you wait increases the risk of old hardware failing—with no replacement in sight.

Fortunately, Opto 22 can help! With quick turn-around times (usually in stock, or only on order for 2-3 weeks when the competition’s lead times are 4-6 months). Opto 22 hardware is made in the USA, and comes backed with excellent support and customer service.

If you need a large scale system with as much I/O as you can imagine, we recommend going with the groov EPIC platform. It is their flagship line capable of enterprise scale I/O counts. If you need to simply additional I/O for your existing system, we recommend starting with the groov RIO platform to add I/O where you need it. It will give you the flexibility to configure exactly what you need right now.

The groov RIO approach also works really well for systems that have maxed out your existing hardware’s I/O count and you still need to add temperature sensors, an analog I/O point, and a discrete I/O point to interface with a new piece of equipment for example. In that case, you could simply drop in a groov RIO, configure your I/O and communications and you are good to go.

Both options will work with what you have now, and will grow with your needs. They are also a great replacement option if you are looking to upgrade your entire PLC system right now.

Depending on the communication options of your current PLC platform, it may be possible to set up groov hardware to communicate directly with your existing PLCs. However if you have Allen Bradley PLCs, you still have a couple of options. You can use a SNAP PAC Controller from Opto 22 to communicate to the Allen Bradley PLCs with the Ethernet/IP protocol, then communicate from your groov hardware to the SNAP PAC controller (using it as a protocol converter). You can also use Ignition to connect to your groov hardware and the Allen Bradley hardware. Ignition can handle the protocol conversion between the PLCs for you. Because the groov platform can do pretty much anything, you can even save on panel PC costs (while removing an additional piece from the architecture) and run Ignition directly on your groov hardware.

We know many companies are hesitant to upgrade their entire systems. Because, even if you piece together an entire PLC and I/O network, you will still have to wait on important parts like motor starters, VFDs, and instrumentation. This is where the groov platform can easily save the day while giving you a solid foundation for future growth.

Add in Ignition

If your current PLC architecture is using Allen Bradley or another legacy brand lacking modern protocols, one option is to add in a SNAP PAC Controller from Opto 22 to communicate Ethernet/IP on the hardware side. In most cases, this would save additional hardware costs, allow you to run Ignition on the groov hardware you are already using, and have Ignition act as your communication protocol converter.

The basics are:

• Connect your Legacy PLC (in this example, Allen Bradley) to Ignition as a device using the native drivers

• Connect your groov EPIC or groov RIO hardware to Ignition using MQTT, OPC-UA, or Modbus

• Set up tags in Ignition for both PLCs

• Add a tag change script where necessary to write a new value from your Legacy PLC to your groov PLC or vice versa.

In Ignition, you can even use event-based triggers or cyclic triggers with the built in tag scripting to write data on demand between your PLCs.

We took an equivalent approach to this in our Boss Mode: 100ms Tag History approach. This used scripting in Ignition to control how our data flowed, without needing to solely rely on the tags’ scan times in Ignition.

Ignition also works well as a communication protocol converter, because you are not limited to just the tag data from PLCs. You can easily integrate Ignition into any API or other system in your facility, and use those integrations as data sources to communicate with your PLCs, new and old.

Conquer the Supply Chain

You now have many options for integrating all of the hardware and software required to run complex manufacturing facilities at peak performance. Regardless of which PLC hardware you have now, you can quickly upgrade to modern standards without having to touch your existing installation. This will expand your capabilities for the future without a large capital investment up front, and gives you a foundation to build on when it’s time for a large-scale upgrade.

This potential for an easier upgrade is not limited to your hardware, it also applies to using Ignition. Once you’re running the standard Ignition server with no visualization, you have opened the door to integrating your entire operation into a single source of truth. Add in visualization and the WebDev module and you have a fully featured software suite at your disposal.

Ignition will help take your business to the next level, Opto 22 will take your manufacturing process to the next level, and working with Corso Systems will launch your entire company into Boss Mode.

*No this doesn’t apply if your process requires 5 to 10ms scan times of your I/O, can easily grow beyond a groov RIO for large scale I/O counts, and doesn’t apply to VFDs or servos unless you are trying to integrate 3rd party options into the system. It also may rely on PC hardware** as part of the equation which does have some added, although very minimal, risk with today’s industrially hardened panel PCs from companies like OnLogic.

**If you have PLCs capable of Modbus TCP, MQTT, DNP3, or you want to use a SNAP PAC controller also from Opto 22, you can bypass the Ignition requirement. You can also run Ignition directly on your groov hardware to save on panel PC cost, lead times, and added risk of a third “moving” piece.