GE Control vs. AB

Hi all,

I really want to get into GE PLC Control: I've used
AB-Rockwell for 15 years. Can anyone that has experience in this give comparisons to what is better?

I know one person who really likes the GE over the A-B. One reason they listed is that the data is stored and uploaded separately from the program logic. That makes it much easier to update the some logic program on multiple machines. When I worked on their project, I liked the fact that GE had it's Devicenet setup in the ladder editor, not in some separate program.

Bill

An emotional and controversial subject to be sure. I think it's more of a preference, maybe based on the application. I use both GE and AB. Is one better or worse than the other? I don't think so. Certainly they are different. Both have features I like, and dislike. The list is too extensive to itemize. But at the end of the day, both will get the job done.

GE has some features that I like. The separate download of logic or values is one. I like some of their instruction set functions, which AB doesn't have. Also, I hate some of their instruction set functions as well. It takes about 3x the logic to do certain things than it does in AB. I think their development software is archaic. GE seems adrift with no clear direction. Versapro was ported to Cimplicity (and married with the HMI software) which is now Proficy. Their approach and features are still light years behind RSLogix and for me, very frustrating to use.

AB's strength is RSLogix. Hardware... I'm neutral. Both seem adequate for the application. If you make multiples of one machine and they are all the same, the time spent programming is minimal. If every machine is custom a lot of time is spent programming. Time is money. Yes, Rockwell rapes you, but I feel I make it back in time saved on the programming and commissioning side. For my own mental health, if I have a choice, I run like hell from GE and tolerate the things I don't like about AB. For me, I feel the negatives with GE far outweigh the negatives of AB. But, again, that's a personal opinion. (Please List... don't make me wear the flame shield... lol.) I know there are lots of loyal GE folks as well and you will hear from them as well.

Choose your poison... neither is right or wrong. Follow your heart... or wallet. Have fun.

My 2 cents (Current market rate = .0087 cents). Bruce A.

Their software is so bad since Logicmaster that they aren't even on my short list.

Regards
cww

From an ex-Rockwell employee, I still prefer RA for most applications and use them regularly. I do know that software from them needs to be 2 or 3 revisions after it comes on the market to be reasonable stable (unless you like being on the phone to tech support). Even internal staff who do installations, as I did, had long conversations with the "experts".

Having said that, I have also spend hours and many trials of software revisons with GE as well. When you on the bleeding edge, that come with the territory no matter who the provider is.

As has been said elswhere on this thread, the Logix package does help, especially in transferring and maintaining data bases. I have many stories of a tag that was copied wrong and took many hours to track down and fix which is mostly elliminated with the common DB. You have to plan out the programming to take advantage of this (and converting an old PLC-2 or 5 program doesn't make it easy) but once all the parts are in place, large HMI and PLC applications are manageable.

GE does have the functions that make some tasks easy. Much of that comes from the history of the products and where their roots are. RA added loop control but started out with relatively simple boolean logic while GE's product line was more influenced by the DCS world. I doubt there isn't much you couldn't do in either product line, it's just what you feel comfortable with and have experience. Even if one product could do things more efficently, if you have to study the manuals to make it work, you might still not save time or money.

You spend your money and take your chances.

Regards,
Russ Kinner
SSOE, Phoenix, AZ USA

Hi,

I am a new user of AB (1.5 years) and have been working with GEFANUC for several years (15). I think they are a very good equipment. Each one has some good things over the other. In general you should work with the one that you have the software, programming hardware (cables, conversors), etc. to use.

I do not like the way that AB manages the communications (RSLInx), I prefer the way that the other vendors do it.

But if you are planning to use a HMI, I will prefer to work with GEFANUC because if you use a GEFANUC HMI (Quickpanel) or a GEFANUC SCADA (Cimplicity SCADA) you only have to use one software to develop the project (proficy machine edition). For example if you change a direction in the PLC it will be changed in the HMI immediately. This is very useful in the project development.

You only have to entry one databse for the project (PLC).

Most of my experience is with GE 90 series PLCs and the old System One (Kony, TI305, DL305). While I probably don't have enough experience with AB to make a valid comparison, one gripe I have had with the GE line is an absence of simulators for software development and testing. I also would have liked better support for other programming modes in the 90-30, i.e. ST, FBD on PLCs, not just PC control.

Either will do the job.

I find the GE hardware a little cheesy looking but haven't seen a whole lot of failures with it (but then I'm not plugged into a lot of their installations, either).

I have a hard time forgiving GE for the version of VersaPro (or was it LogicBlaster) that had a bug that would create extra rungs of logic and load them into controller. I think that was around 98-99.

I have done mostly AB with a smattering of GE along the way.

The AB programming environment is consistent and improves with every
release. The GE stuff changes radically every couple years.

I agree the AB simulators are an incredible tool for those that use them.