Problem solved: incorrect backup one of the biggest causes of industrial downtime

The moment a PLC in your control cabinet loses its software program, your machine comes to a standstill. If there's no backup, a field service engineer can sometimes still make a backup during the outage. But it's usually already too late.

No backup means seriously investing time and money in a software developer to write a new program or buy a completely new machine with a long delivery time.

A backup of, for example, a PLC, HMI or Servodrive is important to be able to fall back on in case of problems. A backup should be made after every modification to the software or machine and is an important starting point for field service engineers in the event of a malfunction, for example.

Machine builders often make a backup of the very first version before delivery and after adjustments, but it is recommended that companies make regular backups themselves and check them as well. 

What does a backup consist of? 

A backup can consist of software (the control program of a process), firmware, visualizations or parameters of one or more modules.

Firmware is the control part that tells the hardware what to do with the software. This is often obtained through the module manufacturer. Visualizations include the data that are in an HMI and on which the program is graphically displayed, so basically what you see on the screen. Parameters are the data needed to control the motor with a drive, for example; motor currents and frequency range. 

If a PLC loses its program, a repair fails or an error occurs in the backup, your machine will come to a standstill. Maybe even the entire production line. A problem that can easily be avoided with a backup. This applies to all electronics in which software can be found: including PLCs, HMIs and Servodrives. 

Ensure good backup management 

Good backup management is extremely important to prevent long-term machine downtime. By making a new backup regularly and, in any case, after every modification, you have something to fall back on if you lose the program in the electronic module. It's wise to store a backup both digitally (on site, for reasons of accessibility) and analog (off site, for reasons of security).

Testing a backup is also recommended. You can do this yourself with a spare PLC, HMI or Servodrive from your own stock or have it carried out by an external company, such as UNIS Group.

It's also important to keep an eye on the life of the backup battery. The moment the battery is empty, the RAM (and therefore the software) of the machine is completely deleted. 

Call in experts - preventively or in the case of malfunctions 

Unfortunately, UNIS Group's field service engineers can't provide support in the event of failing or missing backups. UNIS Group can only make good backups as a preventive measure (i.e. before the production line comes to a standstill).

If there's already a downtime, with an error in the module or program, and no backup, our engineers can no longer do anything and the program has to be rewritten. That's why preventive backups are essential. We can make and test these for you. These backups can be safely stored at UNIS Group in consultation with you, but of course you will also receive a backup copy yourself.

With a good backup - and correct management of it - you avoid unnecessary downtime and the rising costs for new software or even new machines. Problem solved! 

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