01 / Starting point
Not a series machine, but a plant still in development.
The customer was looking for a Siemens programmer for a new and technically unusual vacuum furnace. When I started, much of the mechanics was in place, the control cabinets were standing, part of the electrical equipment had been purchased and some power and process components were installed. But the plant had never run as a complete automated machine – a full regular process had not yet taken place.
The original plant designer was no longer available. So the first job was to work out what existed, what could be reused, what was missing, where wiring had to change, which sensors and actuators were needed, how the process should work and which safety and process conditions had to be considered.
The first step was an on-site survey: inspecting the plant, recording the existing components and cabinet condition, checking mechanical and electrical interfaces, sensors and actuators, reviewing the available documents – and deciding what to keep and what to change.
My usual focus is design, PLC/HMI programming, diagnostics and commissioning. In this project I also helped with parts of the installation and wiring, because the plant was already partly assembled and many changes had to be made directly on the real build.
