This is a highly subjective comparison chart for PLCs available on the market per 2007.

It does not contain every single PLC brand in existence out there. I am confident though that I have not omitted a PLC brand with a market share above 1%.

The information is gathered from the web, from experience (for Siemens and AB), and from hearsay. Do not take it as a 100% correct and profesional market survey (that would cost top dollar to make).

I do not guarantee the correctness of the data. The information is subjective and presented "as is".

Enjoy. Jesper M. Pedersen December 2007.

Brand name Latest and greatest PLC types.

Homepage(s) Warning: Clicking on the cell will normally open the linked website in your webbrowser.

Siemens S7-400, S7-300

Rockwell / Allen Bradley ControlLogix, CompactLogix

Mitsubishi Q series

Omron CS1, CV1

Grp. Schneider / Modicon Premium, Quantum, M340

GE Fanuc RX7i, RX3i

Moeller XC100, XC200

Hitachi H series, EH-150

Sharp JW300

B&R X20

ABB AC500

Koyo (AD) DL205, DL405

Beckhoff CX range, IPC ranges.

Toshiba V seies, SE2/ST2

www.toshiba.com/ind/

LG K series, XGT series, GM series

Phoenix Contact

Wago

RFC430, RFC450 758

Panasonic (Matsushita) Fpsigma, FP2

VIPA 300V, 300S

Bosch-Rexroth CML65

https://mall.automation.siemens.com/DE/guest/guiWelcome.asp?lang=en www.ia.omron.com/ www.rockwellautomation.com/ www.mitsubishi-automation.com/

www.telemecanique.com/en/functions_discovery/function_5.htm www.gefanuc.com/as_en/products_solutions/index.html www.moeller.net/en/industry/automation/ www.hitachi-ds.com/en/product/index.php www.sharp-world.com/sms/plc/frame.html www.br-automation.com www.abb.com/

www.koyoele.co.jp/english/ www.beckhoff.com

www.lgis.com/main/main.asp www.phoenixcontact.com/ www.wago.com/start/start.htm www.mew.co.jp/ac/e/

http://www.vipa.de/en/h ome/ http://www.boschrexroth.com/country_units/america/unit

www.ab.com/
19.1 % 14.3 % 8.3 % 8.3 % 3.7 % 2.4 % 1.9 % 1.9 % 1.5 % <1%

http://web4.automationdirect.com/adc/Home/Home

PLC Market share per 2003 28.8 % (source: Milestones in Automation, Arnold Zankl , ISBN 3-89578-259-9) Most important market(s) EU

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

<1%

US Rest of the world none

All

Japan Rest of the world none

All (*5)

Japan - East asia Rest of the world none

Partial (LD+ ST+SFC+FBD)

France EU - US Rest of the world

All

US ? ?
Partial (IL+ST+LD+FBD)

EU none Rest of the world

All

Japan none Rest of the world

All

Japan none Rest of the world none none none none some none none Ethernet ?, Devicenet

EU none Rest of the world

All

None specifically Rest of the world none

All

Japan - US none Rest of the world none none non-integrated non-integrated many none many

EU Rest of the world none

All

Japan Rest of the world none

Partial (LD+FBD) *10

South Korea none Rest of the world

All

EU Rest of the world none

All

EU Rest of the world none

All

Japan Rest of the world none

All

EU ? none
Partial (ST+SFC)

EU US ?
All

Other significant market(s) Rest of the world Weak market(s)

Support for IEC611131-3 programming languages

none
Partial (ST+SFC)

Redundancy solutions Integrated machine safety solutions

yes yes

yes yes yes ("unlimited") many (*2) yes many ControlNet, DeviceNet, Ethernet/IP ProfiBus (*4)

yes

none

yes

yes

none none none some none many

none none yes (*9) some none none ?

none none yes (*9) some none none

none non-integrated none some yes many

none yes yes ("unlimited") some (*7) none none

? none none some some none

yes non-integrated yes (*9) some yes many Ethernet ?, Devicenet

none none none none none some

none yes (*8) none none none some

none none yes (112 axes) some none some

none none ? some none none

none yes yes many none none Profibus, ethernet, ethernet/IP, SERCOS, SERCOS III

non-integrated (*1) non-integrated (*1) non-integrated (*1) ? yes (96 axes) many yes some Melsecnet, CCLink, non-integrated some none many CompoBus/S, CompoNet, Devicenet yes (*3) many (*6) none many Modbus, Modbus TCP yes (*9) some yes none

Integrated Motion solutions yes ("unlimited") HMI solutions DCS solution Electrical components Primary bus "families" (native) many (*2) yes many Profibus, Profinet

Genius, Devicenet, CanOpen Profibus, Ethernet/IP ?

CanOpen, Ethernet Profibus, Proprietary remote- CanOpen, EtherCat ? Powerlink Devicenet, Arcnet, i/o. Modbus, S31, Ethernet ? Can, Devicenet, Profibus Modbus Profibus, DeviceNet, others..
PLC is a 3S CoDeSys Poor website. variant. Represented everywhere and growing strongly, but still small in the market.

Interbus, (Profinet) Profibus, CanOpen, S-Link, MEWNET- Profibus Devicenet F

Secondary networking/bus families.

Comments (warning: highly subjective).

Asi

Profibus, Devicenet, Asi

CanOpen, Asi

Profibus, Devicenet

CanOpen, Interbus Devicenet, CanOpen, Interbus

Dont know much about them. Impressive but also confusing portfolio with too many PLC types for such a small player. Aptly called "the Siemens of Korea". Website ends often in PLC is a 3S CoDeSys "dead ends". PLC variant. PLC products products are are secondary to the secondary to the other other product lines. product lines. Strong Strong as a supplier as a supplier of i/o of i/o blocks. blocks. Only the low to medium-low i/o count segment is covered. Compatible in large degree, though not 100%, with Siemens S7-300.

Because of its market share and product range Siemens is the "Microsoft of the automation world".

The "other" player in the automation world. Too much dependent on the US market though. High quality of both software and hardware is handicapped by being the market leader when it comes to the price level.

Website is ridiculously slow.

Has a bewildering range of PLCs. Not only RX but also two "series 90" and "VersaMax". Surprisingly poor website.

PLC is a 3S CoDeSys No presence outside variant. I wonder if japan. Poor website. the respectable 2.4% marketshare is because all the "smart relays" are counted as well ?

No presence outside japan. PLC appears obsolete when compared with the competition. Poor website. Woe to the end-customer who purchases a japanese machine with this PLC.

Weak in the PLC PLC products are in segment, strong in the the low end of the DCS segment. water. Low performance, small program size and i/o count, weak networking. Translates into low price.

PLC is a 3S CoDeSys variant. PLC offering is new - about 2 years now. Very fast and high-powered, strong motion. Mostly aimed at high-end application, little avaliable for microPLC market

Notes.

*1: Safety is not part of standard PLC solution (but there is a separate safety PLC line). *2: There are problems with latest generation software. These problems are slowly being resolved. Status as of today is that the software is usable, but we definitely havent arrived at "HMI heaven" yet. *3: Uses separate PLCopen library for motion. *4: Profibus via 3rd party products. *5: In parallel with IEC, there are also "traditional" programming languages. *6: HMI solutions are split into 2 products (Vijeo & Citect) that will run side-by-side for quite some time. *7: Has a full range of panel PCs with both WinCE and WinXP embedded, For WinXP there is a HMI solution, but not for WinCE. Beckhoff's own "Target Visu" for Win CE has only minimal HMI functionality. *8: not sure if the profisafe terminals can be used with a Wago PLC. There are safety functions in CoDeSys, so in theory it should be possible. INFORMATION WANTED TO CONFIRM OR DENY THIS. *9: INFORMATION WANTED TO CONFIRM OR DENY THIS. ALSO IF THERE ARE ANY LIMITATIONS OR PITFALLS. *10: V-series only.

Listing of PLC brands that are continuing an otherwise discontinued PLC type. Brand name Website At least partially backwards compatible with: CTi INAT SoftPLC http://www.controltechnology.com/ http://www.inat.de/index.php?id=344&L=1 http://www.softplc.com/ Texas Instruments TI-505. Siemens S5-115U, S5-135U, S5- Allen Bradley PLC2, 155U. PLC3, PLC5, SLC500. Has a very substantial range of TI- Only CPUs. Can work with either 505 compatible parts, CPUs, PSUs, S5 or S7 code. racks and i/o modules. Software is compatible in that AB programs can be converted with a tool. Can attach i/o via AB RIO.

Comments:

Listing of very small PLC brands. Brand name Website Comments:

Saia http://www.start-controls.com/ Some CPUs are software compatible with Siemens S7, but it looks like they are dropping going in that direction. Latest CPUs are programmed in IEC601131-3 (CoDeSys ?)

Festo Jetter OPTO-22 Honeywell Advantech Idec (Izumi) Unitronics Frenzel + Berg IBH Entertron http://hpsweb.honeywell.com/Cultures/en-US/Products/wintriss/automation/default.htm www.idec.com http://www.unitronics.com/ http://www.frenzel-berg.de/http://www.ibhsoftec-sps.de/english/S7_CX416.htm http://www.entertron.com/ http://www.festo.com/INetDomino/coorp_sites/en/6fab3f97ed2f6e97c1257114003ad6f4.htm Latest CPUs are programmed in Appearantly no online PLC products appear All PLCs are PLC/HMI Board-level "kits" as A bit special. Packages Board level "kits". IEC601131-3 (CoDeSys ?) programming. orphaned in combinations. well as packaged a Beckhoff Honeywells range of "blocks". Three WindowsCE IPC with services and solutions. programming their S7 softplc - and styles/product ranges: presto: An S7 IEC(CoDeSys), "S5compatible PLC at a like" and uC rock-bottom price. i/o (C/assembler). Uses must be purchased from CanOpen bus. Beckhoff.

Contec
http://www.contec.at/47+M52087573ab0.0.html

Board level CPU. Claims to be the fastest PLC in the world. Uses an FPGA to achieve this. I guees that means no online change. Uses CoDeSys for programming.