Extending the life of your industrial assets.
Industrial PLCs, like all electronic equipment, have a finite lifetime. Obsolescence of PLCs, HMIs, industrial PCs and communication modules is a major challenge for plant operators: spare parts become unavailable, documentation is lost or obsolete, the original integrator has disappeared, and maintenance teams no longer have the skills to maintain old systems. A breakdown on an obsolete installation can mean days or even weeks of unplanned production downtime.
AUTOM Technologies offers a complete retrofit service: from the technical audit of existing systems through to migration to current platforms, including reverse engineering of undocumented software and progressive changeover with maintained production. Our approach minimises the risks and durations of production interruptions.
Our retrofit approach
Audit and reverse engineering
Before any intervention, we carry out a complete technical audit of the existing system: PLC inventory, identification of I/O modules, analysis of existing programs (even without source code), documentation of field equipment interfaces and wiring review. When the original source code is unavailable, we perform reverse engineering: analysis of the binary program in the PLC memory, reconstruction of the functional logic and production of commented, maintainable source code. This phase is often the most critical — it conditions the quality of the entire migration.
Migration planning and progressive changeover
Migration planning aims to minimise production downtime. We develop a detailed intervention schedule: preparation of new cabinets in parallel with production, phased switchover machine by machine or area by area, test phase on simulation bench, pre-validated startup procedures. For critical installations, we implement a temporary parallel operation phase: old and new systems run simultaneously, allowing behaviour validation before final switchover.
Modern platform migration
Our migrations cover all generations of PLCs: Siemens S5 → S7-300/400/1500, Schneider TSX → Modicon M340/M580, OMRON CQM/C200 → NX/NJ series, and many other platforms. PLC migration is accompanied by HMI modernisation (old operator panel replaced by a modern touch screen), industrial network upgrade (PROFIBUS → PROFINET, serial → Ethernet) and complete updating of documentation (functional specifications, wiring diagrams, maintenance manuals).
Situations where we intervene
- Manufacturer obsolescence — Spare parts and technical support no longer available
- Lost source code — Original program inaccessible or without documentation
- Communication compatibility — Old protocols incompatible with current systems
- Cybersecurity — Old systems with no security, not patchable, non-compliant with IEC 62443
- Performance improvement — Improved cycle times, new functionalities, SCADA connectivity
Representative project
S5 → S7-1500 migration — Cereals storage facility
Complete reverse engineering and migration of a Siemens S5-115U PLC to S7-1500 on a durum wheat storage and processing installation: reconstruction of the original program without source code, rewriting in Structured Text (IEC 61131-3), new Siemens TP1500 Comfort touch HMI, PROFIBUS → PROFINET network migration, progressive changeover with maintained production and complete functional documentation.
Do you have a retrofit or modernisation project?
Whether you are facing a manufacturer obsolescence, a breakdown risk or a desire to modernise your control systems, our team has the expertise to plan and execute the migration of your existing installations with the utmost rigour and minimal disruption to your production.