Help choosing a PLC

Hi Yuliya1106,

I think that any PLC from the S7-1200 series would be sufficient but if you are not familiar with muting for sensors it would be much easier to program with an S7-1500, although it is more expensive.

Hi Yuliya1106,

it is not easy to recommend a system to you. Siemens offers a very broad product portfolio with a lot of functional differences. I would recommend contacting the sales representative for your region, or the technical consulting. It would be easier to clarify your requirements in a few phone calls instead of posting here. I think the questions that arise around your concern are sometimes overwhelming for a novice in the field.

For your short list of requirements, I still would have a lot of questions like:

• Why did your customer request using Siemens? Is it because of the spare parts stock keeping? Then the customer might have a short list of allowed products.
• Do you need decentralized periphery?
• Is a failsafe PLC required?
• Do you need alarm logging?
• Is a connection to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or any other system needed?
• How small or large should the touch display be?
• …

The choice of a system is also a question of cost. For a S7-1200 with an HMI Basic panel, you would only need to buy a license for "STEP 7 Basic" (when working with a failsafe PLC, you would need in addition "Safety Basic"). This would be the cheapest solution. But basically, your solution have to meet your customer's requirements.

Kind regards
Stefan