The Satellite Review Magazine The Satellite Review Magazine Vol 1 | Page 8

Upgrading Vintage PLCs
By Rick Kryzaniak,

Senior Project Manager, Faith Technologies,

The Programmable Logic
Controller (PLC) is at the
heart of most modern machines and process controls.
It is a digital computer
control system used for
the automation, typically
industrial processes, such
as machinery controls for
factory assembly lines.
PLCs were first introduced
to the market in 1969.
They were designed not
only to replace relay logic
systems, but also to reduce
the overall physical size
of control equipment, and
make it more feasible to
reconfigure. PLCs reduce
the training demands on
technicians time, allowing
them to reprogram equipment, versus rewiring it;
making it easy to modify
machine operation.

about, and many times only
get attention when their
I/O points begin to fail. It’s
recommended to upgrade
PLCs, at a minimum, every
10 years; yet in the everyday
world of machine and process control, it’s common to
see customers using dated
technology from the early
1990s.

Companies that choose to
use this dated technology
often don’t realize they are
teetering on the brink of
disaster. The longer they
wait to upgrade, the more
they increase their risk of
d