WinCC vesus PCS7

Dear All,

Please I want to understand the differences between WinCC and PCS7. What should make me switch to PCS7 from using STEP 7 & WinCC separately?

Advanatages of using PCS7??


Thanks

farra

1. Redundancy
1. Software: I don't know whether WinCC with Step 7 gives you the redundancy that PCS7 provides out of the box for both the AS and OS systems combined. I can tell you from experience it's very simple because you develop one PLC program and one HMI program. The swapping and redundancy is alredy built in and running in the background. I have seen other "redundant" systems where the network failed, and it took them several hours to re-establish the redundancy while the PCS7 system came right back up as the network was restored.
   
2. Hardware: As it was communicated to me verbally by a Siemens engineer, nothing is approved for use in the PCS7 system unless it is hot swappable in a live system. I have used this capability myself multiple times without having to do a restart or anything like that. Personally, I cannot wait until Profinet is approved for use in PCS7 and I'm even more excited about the future of these factories I work at using redundant Profinet.
2. Software Development:
1. Step 7 / WinCC Coupling (Faceplates): I have developed scores of PLC systems where the PLC program is developed and then the user interface is developed. Even though there are screen objects to represent the status of a machine and most every screen system I work with will import tags, assigning the tags, etc. and establishing proper behavior on the HMI screen can be a total Pain.
   With the coupling of Step 7 and WinCC in PCS7, if you have a faceplate developed for a block or a chart, when you program it in Step 7,. all the tag assignments and communication connections are already taken care of for you. You save HUGE amounts of time. If you are inclined, you can then spend the time you have saved to make cool graphics for the HMI screen (which in my experience are oooh'ed and aaah'ed for the first week, then ignored forever).
2. Step 7 / WinCC Coupling (Alarming): Massive time saver. In two of the factories I support, each system is over 9,000 I/O and each point has an associated alarm. The alarming was all embedded into the block programming in Step 7, and except for editing the alarm message in the block when we program the chart, we don't have to edit a single alarm in WinCC (except for the ones associated with Outside tags such as OPC tags from other systems). The other amazing feature is the fact that the source of the alarm is embedded into the message shown on the clients. I have found that exceptionally useful for debugging, because it tells you exactly where in the PLC code your alarm occurred.
3. Step 7 / WinCC Coupling (Redundancy): As I said before, develop one PLC program, one HMI package and all your redundant systems are programmed. One of the factories I support has a sister factory that has the same system done in Rockwell Control Logix and Cimiplicity. The engineer who programs that system also does the PCS7 system at it's sister. He said to me one day, for every job he has to do with the PCS7 system, if it takes him an hour, to do the exact same thing on the ControlLogix/Cimplicity system takes him 4 or more hours.
4. PCS7 Step 7 Languages: Bundled in PCS7 you have STL / SCL / LAD / FBD / CFC / and SFC (i think SFC is an option). You can program a block in SCL STL LAD or FBD and then drop it into a chart and make all the I/O connections. I believe this is the closest any PLC system comes to Object Oriented programming. Simply put, it's awesome.