A look back to the introduction of a groundbreaking technology

Ten Years after a Great Milestone

In 2010, at Siemens we set a great challenge: to fully renew our automation platform, including SIMATIC and the engineering platform Step 7.

Today, we may say that we largely achieved it, specially thanks to our users and partners who grew with us into this new engineering automation concept.

Background

In 2010, our automation platform was consolidated with the S7 family, which, by then, had already been in the market for 15 years. With the controllers SIMATIC S7-200, S7-300 and S7-400, Siemens made the change of the century by fully transforming the SIMATIC S5 lines, which, by that time, had been in the market for about 20 years. The arrival of new microprocessors and operative systems enabled different technologies which required an automation system to be implemented in the SIMATIC world seamlessly, sharing engineering and configuration data resources. The technology of the new PLCs not only allowed larger and more powerful software, but also greater openness and user-friendly communications. Likewise, the graphic environment made systems’ setting tasks much easier, so that the user may focus his work in a high-end modeling level.

Step 7 became a real engineering automation platform that, unlike its predecessor, Step 5, was much more than a programing tool for PLCs, it was an environment to fulfill all integration requirements with other tools of the automation system, whether communication links or HMI interfaces with the different tools that have been improved, from ProTool to WinCC Flexible, and the SCADA platform WinCC v7.

Step 7 enabled the seamless integration of SIMATIC S7-300 and S7-400, all the HMI devices and drives systems MICROMASTER, MASTERDRIVE, and, lastly, SINAMICS.

As a consequence, by the end of the 20th century, Siemens introduced the concept of Totally Integrated Automation (TIA), i.e. a concept to develop technologies prepared to be integrated into a full system from their inception. Since then, Siemens prepares any new development in industrial technology —drives, instrumentation, PLCs, HMI systems, or motor protection systems— not only with physical communication capability, but also ready to be integrated into the automation system, in a simple and functional manner for the user.

The maturity of S7 prepared the field to launch the powerful and robust controllers that fulfilled failsafe requirements to control machines, and, by beginning of years 2000, we already had high availability, redundant controllers with process safety (SIMATIC S7 400 H/F).

This degree of development of the TIA concept was extended into the process industry that had full integration requirements between the operation and control, based on typical functions and sequences with instrumentation, control and switching. This was how the process-oriented TIA concept was specifically developed, which became the distributed control system, DCS, SIMATIC PCS7, based on process controllers AS S7400.

Very fast, SIMATIC, WinCC and PCS7 were greatly adopted and fully accepted by regional industries, turning Siemens into one of the world leaders of automation systems, especially in South America. Meanwhile, the Micro PLC SIMATIC S7-200 followed a parallel path. Originally oriented to the automation of machines, its engineering was based on a much simpler

platform, but not less powerful, the Step 7 Micro Win. This combination became very popular, very fast in our markets thanks to SIMATIC S7-200 excellent price-performance ratio and its capacity to solve different technological tasks such as motion control, weighting and communications, as the S7-200 enabled practically all types of communication required in the industrial world, especially open communication protocols, switching their ports to Freeport mode. The stand-alone PLC not only solved complex machine control tasks, but it was also masked into RTU functions to be communicated by radio or as a protocol converter. Its versatility was enhanced by more and more complex, software-related technological functions.

Until it reached its limit.

The Big Challenge

After 15 years in the market, the revolution driven by Siemens with its Totally Integrated Automation concept grew into the users, who made full use of the functions provided by the Step 7 platform. At that moment, Siemens set a new goal in the history of TIA: to fully integrate the automation system, and the operation and drives systems into only one seamless platform, but, above all, a versatile and future-oriented platform. This was how the new TIA Portal was born: an entry door into the complete concept of Totally Integrated Automation. The concept of the TIA Portal platform reflects and consolidates all the lessons learned in 15 years of leadership in the concept of integrating systems that were originally independent. The TIA Portal provides a full solution in only one environment. For the first time, the world of automation has only one tool to solve it all.

***TIA Portal disrupted the classic automation engineering by really and seamlessly integrating the whole components of a complete automation system***

These ambitious functions meet the new possibilities to consolidate very complex control applications thanks to the simplicity offered by new software technologies. In order to achieve that, a new microprocessor architecture is required at the controller level to incorporate innovations in the next 20 years into an environment where we have already started talking about Industrie 4.0 and the technological innovations applied to productivity and time-to-market. A new PLC concept was born in the SIMATIC family.

The New SIMATIC of the 21st Century

The SIMATIC S7-1200 was launched globally in 2010; for the first time, and what would become a constant since then, Siemens launched this big technological innovation into the market, simultaneously in all countries in the world.

With an advanced modularity concept, i.e. peripheral expansion functionalities on the one hand, and, on the other, communication, this PLC highlights and reaffirms its full versatility thanks to the native embedded Ethernet communication port, which simplifies and enhances all commissioning tasks at large. Thanks to its new concept to manage memory and data capability, a new universe of functionalities opens up to develop the advanced control engineering. However, to achieve this, a suitable engineering platform is necessary. In 2010, apart from the milestone global launching of the S7-1200, the new TIA Portal, basic version, was also introduced into the market.

This new platform came to solve the engineering of controllers and user interfaces all-in-one, based on the new family of SIMATIC HMI Basic panels, and then the advanced Comfort panels and HMI Runtime systems. Everything can be solved in the TIA Portal.

***S7-1200 reformulated the concept of compact plcs and machine automation by means of an innovative platform, future proof and core of the TIA Portal portfolio, with a new enhanced line of HMI devices***

Very soon, the enthusiasts and fans of the S7-200 found in the S7-1200 the perfect successor for more advanced developments and solutions. The TIA Portal introduced the concept Technological Objects that,by means of “drag & drop” and easy wizards, allow simply configurations of complex tasks such as synchronizing PID loops, motion or counting control, plus the generation of fast pulses and a wide variety of classic functions for automatic control.

***The S7-1200 put an special focus in solving the most of the communication requirements of the industrial and process world.***

Siemens launched these innovations into the market in simultaneous events, in different main venues such as Berlin, Chicago and Beijing, and highlighted events in all cities where Siemens is present by means of a 3D movie that clearly communicated the new engineering and commissioning concept introduced by the TIA Portal, together with the first technological team: the SIMATIC S7-1200 and the new WinCC TIA Portal panels.

In Argentina, this event was carried out at Buenos Aires City Planetarium, and in important 3D movie theaters.

Today and Tomorrow

Time flies and, especially when talking about technology, we had massive achievements in these last 10 years of history since the launch of the TIA Portal and the first SIMATIC S7-1200 prepared therefor.

Our greatest satisfaction is to observe how, not only our partners, but also the new users quickly recognized and incorporated the SIMATIC S7-1200 and this new engineering. This made possible the launch of the Big Brother, SIMATIC S7-1500, with incredibly powerful and advanced functionality and performance. Therefore, today we may say that these two technological Siemens brothers are prepared to continue the success story of the SIMATIC family, and for all requirements and trends coming by the hand of the digitalization of production and control engineering, the generation and analysis of data, and the integration into new processing architectures at Edge or Cloud levels.

Today, we are in an exceptionally complex world, going through circumstances that we could have never foreseen ten years ago. However, this reaffirms and convinces us even more about the revolution we made with our portfolio and the way to conceive automation. Today, we have a platform prepared to efficiently respond and address the current challenges and requirements, and those to come, at least, in the next ten years.

For the broad and great acceptance and trust you deposited on us, we say: Thank you very much, and rest assured as very soon SIMATIC and TIA Portal will surprise you once again with new innovations!

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