In yesterday's article I covered the advantage of using verbose tag names in place of pages of comments to document programmable controller programs. Beyond that, there are some other tools available that can help you with organization. Focusing on Rockwell Automation...

There are a couple of different ways of thinking when it comes to in-program documentation, particularly the use of comments. One main methodology I see is to use documentation liberally (since it’s free), placing comments on as many rungs as...

In today's article, I cover some of the most common causes of PLC failures, as well as solutions to avoid them. Input/Output Modules and Field Devices I/O failures can be caused by: Error in the PLC configuration Slacked (loose) terminal blocks ...

In today's article I'll explain how you setup communications in the Mitsubishi Programming Software, GX Works. For those coming to GX Works 3 from GX Works 2 (or earlier,) finding the right area to modify the parameters is the first...

In this week's episode of The Automation Show, John DeTellem walks us through how to add PROFINET (Ethernet) I/O and Drives to an S7-1500 using TIA Portal: For more information, check out the "Show Notes" located below the video. The Automation...