Design, development and development time and efforts are significantly reduced (by at least 30%) due to the unconventional and simplified PLC-Easy software architecture. There is no vendor locking for peripheral devices such as field instrumentation, actuators, Ethernet switches in order to make use of the advantages of the PLC-Easy solution.

It empowers people with very little PLC programming skills to create the more complex control functionalities and convert their process knowledge into control software. Operators can transcend to managerial level as the PLC-Easy solution provides more information in a standard and concise form that facilitates decision-making and allows for instant root cause analysis of the process and equipment.

The PLC-Easy solution is a DCS solution in a PLC-SCADA environment. It provides the framework, scalability, robustness etc. of a DCS without the costs, vendor locking and other restrictions that a DCS imposes and with the flexibility of a PLC but with minimal risk of creating a convoluted application (spaghetti program).

A PLC-Easy based PLC-SCADA application consists predominately out of standard software modules (at least 80%). The benefit of this is that functionality is not programmed, but is configured from tested and validated software modules. Subsequently an application built with PLC-Easy has a higher level of operational readiness where testing and commissioning is nearly reduced to functionality only (software testing is nearly eliminated in the PLC-Easy solution).

Fully standardized alarm rationalization per ISA 18.2 and operator information messaging systems (process states, device states, hardware diagnostics, energy consumption, redundancy status) are PLC based and incorporated in the PLC-Easy software modules. A benefit of this is that the alarm management is automated where messages are standardized and dynamically created in run time. This significantly reduces development and maintenance efforts of the alarming. In addition, as messages and alarm management are standardized, the chance of ineffective alarming is significantly reduced. (Ineffective alarming cause’s production inefficiencies and has caused major accidents in the past).

The combination of an integrated alarm management system and the simplified architecture, allows for the integration of hardware diagnostic signals from any type of device and from any vendor. This provides accurate information to an operator how a hardware error affects its' associated/dependent control signal and ultimately the state of a device or control functionality. As the hardware diagnostics can be incorporated from any type of device including existing VFD's, DOL's, Ethernet switches, I/O modules; it provides an opportunity to leave existing infrastructure in place offering a higher level of return on investment.

When an exception occurs (e.g. a sequence cannot progress), the PLC-Easy solutions automatically generates operator notifications that includes the root cause, the consequence, the affected device/functionality etc., the state of the affected device/functionality, with a true (PLC based) time stamp. The root cause can include hardware diagnostics if a diagnostic signal is available from the physical device (vendor independent). This empowers to troubleshoot an issue without having to inspect/investigate the PLC program.

Due to the unconventional and simplified software architecture, creating control functionality with PLC-Easy is very much like building with Lego bricks. On average, a two day training course will build a proficiency skill level with people that have prior PLC programming experience.