As our clients and employees know, Integrators are committed to using Software standards. We choose to follow standards for one very important reason: Having standards makes you more efficient, which can translate to lower costs and better profits.
Our end-users understand that the benefit of standards means a consistent way for their operators to operate their process systems. If you standardize on solutions across your clients’ plants (or better yet across their company) then the reuse of the technology and programming reduce your cost of implementation and possibly their cost of ownership. Commonality in applied solutions also reduces the need for variety in their spares, further reducing costs.
Sometimes our clients have their own standards. In this case you must follow theirs unless they are interested in any improvements that you can suggest. Either way you should always ask for their standards prior to starting the project.
Software standards make it easier for your team to do their job since the programming and configuration from system to system is very similar. It starts at the basic naming and instructions used to program and configure your systems. Make sure PLC, HMI and 3GL programming standards (including naming conventions) are used for every project you implement at your customers. Standards can be applied at very simple levels. For example, standardizing the way various software packages are installed and configured can lead to easier implementation and maintenance in the long run.
If your standards are not documented then you really don’t have any. Start by asking your team to define their standards with you and consider adopting them as your company’s standards. Integrators utilize standards because they allow for efficient generation of programming from project to project. Existing standards are easily adapted to meet specific customer needs or requirements.
Our goal as System Integrators is to efficiently implement a robust system that is easy to understand and maintain on every project. Application of standard hardware, software and programming practices is one of the most important steps toward this goal.