PLC – Automation Skills

If you would like to earn more money in your job by earning an extra skill have you thought of learning how to program a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This article will explain how you can learn plc programming at home for free and what jobs you can get. Here is what you should learn about when programming PLC's: Industrial AutomationJob Roles Requiring PLC ProgrammingWho Makes PLCsEquipment RequiredInternational StandardsDownload PLC SoftwareWhere To Find TrainingCommon PLC ApplicationsSalary Now you know what you will need to learn about. I can now show you where to get free training and software as well as what salary to expect. IMPORTANT: It is not required to have every skill depending on what type of Control Systems Engineer you will be. But a good understanding of the basics is always a good idea. Each Job advertisement will request slightly different skills. Industrial Automation Industrial Automation is the automation of any industrial process like the ones I have listed below. There are many technologies that are combined together for either hard wired computer networks or radio telemetry systems that allow for this automation to happen. Depending on the country you are in depends on their level of automation. Industries that use Industrial Automation: Water & WastewaterOil & GasPower Generation & DistributionManufacturingFood & BeverageShippingBuilding Management SystemsMining NOTE: This is just a short list but there are more and it basically is any industry that requires industrial-grade automation. Industrial automation uses PLCs to do the low level control of the plant directly to the equipment and reads the responses from the process using industrial sensors. This means having knowledge of how to program a PLC provides you with a very hirable skill that can be used throughout the world. Job Roles Requiring PLC Programming PLC programming is a useful skill in industrial automation regardless of whether you are in operations or maintenance teams or in a managerial role. Understanding the code of the PLC means that you understand the workflows of the plant to a highly technical level. Job roles that require PLC programming knowledge: Industrial Maintenance ElectricianControl Systems EngineerAutomation EngineerEngineering ManagerElectrical Production SupervisorProcess Control TechnicianAnd many more To find a full list of roles and salaries requiring PLC programming skills search your local job website. For instance, if you were are in the USA you could search PLC on Indeed.com. If you were in the UK you could search PLC on Monster.co.uk. If you were in Australia you could search PLC on Seek.com.au. If you are in another country do the same with your local job websites. Who Makes PLCs Here is a list of the major companies that make PLCs: ABBAllen-BradleySiemensHoneywellMitsubishiYokogawaToshibaGeneral ElectricOmronSchneider Automation If you are new to the industry it would be a good idea to check out some of the above companies and look at the names of their PLCs as well as the names of the software they use to configure them.If you would like a full list of PLC manufacturers then check out this article:ARTICLE: PLC Manufacturers on Wikipedia Equipment RequiredPLCs are basically a rugged computer that is in modules and can be put together very similar to leggo. In any particular industrial plant or process there may be one or many PLCs that are controlling different areas of the plant. They are often connected together for processes that are sequential in nature. This is so if something up stream to what the PLC controls breaks down then down stream PLCs can stop or take appropriate action. When you are learning to program a PLC you will need the following equipment: Computer or LaptopPLC programming softwarePLC simulator So when you are learning you may ask why you would not need a physical PLC as well to program. The answer is that you don’t need to for the programming of the code for the PLC but you will when you want to run a plant or process. But the 5 IEC programming languages we will talk about below you can learn without physical hardware. Laptop or Computer This is the most important piece of equipment for your learning to program a PLC for free is obviously the laptop or computer you are viewing this article on. It will need to be a Windows based machine as that is what most industrial software requires. Generally any computer less than 4 years old of around $500 will do for this style of training. For most industrial software a i3 or i5 Intel processor with 4gig of RAM with a solid-state disk (SSD) or 8 gigs so RAM with an older style hard drive is more than enough to start learning with. Depending on what other software you load onto the computer you may need better hardware but not for the software you are using in this article. You can also check the install guide for any other software you may think of using to see what hardware and software requirements it has. PLC Programming Software The software you use to write your program you will later download into a PLC to run a plant or process. Each manufacturer of PLC has their own dedicated software to program their range of PLCs. We will discuss this more below when you download your PLC programming software to learn to program a PLC. Simulator Most PLC programming software comes with an inbuilt PLC simulator that allows you to run your code and check that it works the way you wanted it to work. You can also use third party PLC simulators that are stand alone as well. We will discuss a couple below in the download section. International Standards The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC 61131-3) standards have standards for programming PLCs. They define the 5 programming languages that you can use for various reasons. The 5 IEC PLC programming languages are: LadderSequential Function Chart (SFC)Function BlockInstruction ListStructured Text For more information about each of the programming languages you can look at the article above about PLCs in the Equipment Required section. For more information about the International PLC programming standard section that relates to the languages you can use read the below article. ARTICLE: IEC 61131-3 on Wikipedia For the IEC web page go here. LINK: IEC 61131 official website Download PLC Software The first thing you will need to download to learn how to program a PLC is some PLC programming software. Here are a couple you can look at using: Open PLC open source free plc programming software Schneider Electric Remote Connect While designed for Schneider RTUs it is just a cut down version of the full software used for programming the Schneider PLC range so a great way to learn the 5 IEC programming languages for free and it has a simulator built in. Codesys Development EnvironmentThis software is free to download after you sign up for free on their store and then it will let you download and learn on the platform. You need to select “Private User” during sign up. There are other software products that you can use but these will get you started. Where To Find Training To save you time I have scoured the internet to look for some free training for you to start your PLC programming learning journey. Firstly here are a couple of training videos on PLC programming in general to get you started. Free Udemy Course - PLC Programming 100Free Udemy Course - PLC From Scratch In Under 1 Hour Now lets look at some articles specifically related to the PLC software packages above that will show you how to use them. Open PLC https://youtu.be/xpTBpFHyluw?list=PL9eN6-TpvPMVA7h3QK6LNct2xND-ZcnHp Schneider Remote Connect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tisd4jqpv4Y&list=PLa7UGrWOTyjlyww9RcENfi8u9i8SKPZ0c Codesys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tX6gumm2zg Below I have also included a few websites that will provide you with more video training around other topics to do with PLC programming. LINK: PLC Academy LINK: Automation Direct Salary A PLC Engineer is a well-paid position in most countries and there are always jobs available. The range of salary in the USA is $75k to $100k on payscale. The graduate salaries would be at the lower end and after your first 2 to 5 years experience, you should be able to get the median salary of $80k quite easily. The best way to find the real salaries go to job websites I mentioned earlier in the article. Then filter by salary to see how many jobs at each pay level. This is what I personally do. If you are interested in salaries in the UK or Australia click the links below. LINK: PLC Engineer Salary AustraliaLINK: PLC Engineer Salary UK