Developed by engineers for engineers.

Gaining experience with Allen-Bradley PLCs when your company does not use AB.

I've noticed that a lot of recruiters are looking for Engineers with experience in Allen-Bradley PLCs to fill positions, and I have two questions regarding this:

1) How do AB PLCs differ from the 'standard' of PLC programming; design in Ladder Logic, build in emulator/communication software, upload to PLC?

2) How could someone gain experience with AB PLCs when their company does not do much in-house automation design, and only uses Omron PLCs on the rare occasion that a PLC is added to a project?

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Permalink Reply by Donald Fitchett on March 13, 2010 at 6:02am: Sorry for the "sales" Andrew. :>) But most people looking to improve their own personal marketability in the job market, seem to find the $159 for the 2 CD PLC training set on their own. (If they discover the job market is demanding Allen Bradley knowledge like you mentioned in your original post.)

I was merely providing the best answer to your question. The generic reply would be...
If you feel you need to gain more knowledge of a certain PLC brand to improve your career, invest a little in yourself and purchase some specific training. :>)

I recommended the 2 CD set because it is relatively inexpensive and you get so much knowledge out of it. (A great value.) If you think the my intent is self serving, don't buy the CD set from my company, buy it from Koldwater. That way we won't make a dime off of my advice. There are other sources to purchase the training too, besides from us or Koldwater, but you will pay a lot more.

hope this clears up my intent. :>)

PS: The expensive training video set I mentioned is generic in nature, so maybe your company would purchase it, although you probably do not need that generic training. It sounds like you just need to learn AB specifics.

Andrew Dreasler said:
Thank you for the sales information, however it is unlikely to convince the company to release money from the budget for training aids in PLCs that aren't used at the plant, and I am not going to try and purchase something like this out of my own pocket.

Donald Fitchett said:
Hi Andrew:

I know exactly what you need. Review the details and sample of the 2 CD PLC Training Set, it is designed on AB's RSLogix 500. An excellent starting point. But it doesn't give you much experience uploading and downloading. For that you need the ABS01 Micrologix Trainer (Training equipment with actual PLC and lessons on CD.)

While we offer PLC training in every conceivable format, I believe the above to be the most cost effective solution for you.(The PLC Training video library is the most exstensive PLC training, but pricey. :>)
Hope this helps.
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