4 ms·
I have industrial machines that run the user interface on Windows 3.1. There was a fad for a while of not using PLCs, and instead using 'regular computers', at
by mediaman 6y ago
I have industrial machines that run the user interface on Windows 3.1.
There was a fad for a while of not using PLCs, and instead using 'regular computers', at least for a portion of the system (usually a PLC still handled the most performance sensitive parts).
When you have a production line that's 100 feet of steel, motors, ovens, and other equipment, and the cost of redoing all the control systems is quoted at hundreds of thousands of dollars, then why change it? It still works.
- phendrenad2 6y agoHow do you find parts?
- giantrobot 6y agoThere's literally millions of old computers sitting around in warehouses and storage closets all over the place. That's besides mounts of new old stock sitting around. If you're looking for replacement parts for old PC equipment, you don't need a million units, you just need a couple units. Finding a handful of units for replacement parts is pretty easy.
- mindfulhack 6y agoAnd it's also environmentally friendly, to keep old parts going instead of straight to the dump.
- jmt_ 6y agoI guess it would come down to a combination of the companies risk tolerance and the cost of the worst case scenario. Eventually the system is going to blow w/out possibility of repair, now you have the expenses of downtime + replacement. So one argument in favor of replacing "prematurely" is to prevent just that. Like how you might sell a car for higher towards the end of its life instead of waiting until it's EOL, since now you get less money for the car and suddenly need to buy a new one. Granted, a replacement system could be worse than the original.