Back to Basics 3: Design

Everything that is accomplished in industrial automation requires design. It may be written on a napkin, but there is still thought required before starting a project.

Industrial Automation Design Tools:

CAD: My first CAD tool that I used was Autosketch, an Autodesk program. In the mid 90s you could buy software at local stores like Circuit City or various office supply stores, Autosketch was about $100 and was all I needed for a couple of years. At that time you could also install it on multiple computers easily, so my first employees also used it. We used it for panel layouts and schematics. It did just about anything AutoCAD did back then with the exception of libraries and layers.

We did end up migrating to AutoCAD by about 2000, but I never did learn AutoCAD Electrical. AutoCAD is quite expensive now unless bought as a subscription, so I have been using a program called QCad, which is only a little over $100.

I have started using Fusion360 for 3D design, especially when doing 3D modeling. I still do some of my frame design in 2D as for me it’s faster.

Graphics: For a while I was using CorelDraw, but I have been able to do most of the same things with PowerPoint and MSPaint. Most of what I need in graphics is just flow diagrams and graphical layouts of components or networks.

At Wright Industries we used Visio, it was more trouble than it was worth to me. Things kept snapping to the wrong points and I was too lazy to learn it in detail.

AI is great for creating cool concept art. This wasn’t available when I was working for larger companies, but I use it often now.

Documents: Excel and Word are still my go-tos here. I create an Excel sheet at the beginning of every project and it kind of grows organically. Things like part lists, I/O list, network addresses and station names all end up in a spreadsheet.

Google docs seems to have much of the same functionality. MS Office is one of the few things I pay for a subscription for. It covers up to 5 devices which is perfect for me.

Programming: Of course you have to use the software appropriate for the hardware platform you are programming. Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Beckhoff and CodeSYS seem to be the ones I use most. I also use MS Visual Studio when working with Advanced HMI or Beckhoff related projects.

I also hand write a lot of stuff before it ends up in formal documentation. This ends up in a folder or binder related to the project. I also have a “catch-all” folder for the year and a small notebook with other ongoing notes, often used in meetings.

Why Create Design Documents?

You might think that your project is too small or simple to need to create all of these drawings and design documents. Why create an I/O list when there is already one in the PLC program?

The fact is not having good documentation for a machine or system makes it much more expensive to maintain and modify. Many of these documents are created on some level anyway, and they are much easier to create during the design phase.

Trying to document an existing system by tracing wires and following cables is time consuming, expensive and prone to errors. The same goes for uncommented programs, a little extra time on the front end of a project can save hundreds of hours later.

A big part of system integration is designing machines and systems. These often have to interface with existing equipment, if it is not well documented, this can add many hours to the project.

I am always looking for interesting jobs and projects. I have been working with machinery and production lines for many years, and enjoy the discovery and documentation on existing systems almost as much as building and designing new ones. if you need help, no matter how small or off the wall your application, hit me up!