PLC programming and integration

Siemens PLC programming and integration, from machine to line.

We write the logic and connect it to the rest of the factory: PLCs, drives, distributed I/O, and safety in standardized architectures, with data and alarms reaching SCADA, MES, and ERP. Same team from commissioning to support.

Technical stack

PLC families

S7-1500 for full lines, S7-1200 for compact machines, S7-1500T when advanced axis coordination is needed. We also retrofit S7-300/400 already in the field.

S7-1200 · S7-1500 · S7-1500T · S7-300/400 · TIA Portal

Motion control

Servo drives and electronic cams: gearing, axis synchronization, and complex kinematics up to dozens of coordinated axes.

Sinamics V90 · S210 · S220 · S120 · virtual camming

Distributed I/O

Decentralized architectures with built-in diagnostics, hot-swap support, and redundant configurations where the plant requires them.

ET200SP · ET200MP · ET200PRO · Profinet · Profibus

Energy diagnostics

Meters integrated with the PLC: per-machine load readings and consumption baselines, the technical basis for incentive reporting.

PAC3200 · PAC3220 · PAC3225 · energy monitoring

Industrial networks

Data exchange to SCADA, MES, and ERP, OT network segmentation, and traffic-priority management.

Profinet · Profibus · OPC UA · MQTT

Functional safety

Fail-safe PLCs and risk assessment, integrated with laser scanners and certified safety devices.

S7-1500F · ISO 13849-1/2 · IEC 62061

PLC integration

To SCADA and operator panels

Variables and states exposed in a structured way, with consistent names and units: supervision and HMI read the same data, without mappings redone by hand on every layer.

OPC UA · S7 · WinCC Unified · ARIA MES/SCADA

Alarms and diagnostics

Process and system alarms with texts, classes, and priorities defined in the PLC, and Profinet diagnostics delivered to whoever needs to read them: operator, maintenance, supervision.

System alarms · classes and priorities · Profinet diagnostics

To MES and ERP

Orders, recipes, counts, and scrap exchanged with explicit acknowledgements: the PLC states what it received and what it produced, and the upper layer doesn't have to guess.

OPC UA · order and recipe exchange · APIs to MES and ERP

Between machines on the line

Machines from different builders coordinated through a common line interface: permissives, states, and handshake signals defined once and identical for all.

Profinet · PLC-to-PLC exchange · line interface

Controllers already in the field

Migration from S7-300/400 to S7-1500 keeping the logic that works, and connecting machines that don't exchange data today to the upper layer.

S7-300/400 → S7-1500 · TIA Portal

Why OEMs and plant managers choose us

Reusable standards

Architectures designed to be copied from line to line: on the second project, development time drops 30-50% compared to an ad-hoc implementation.

Native diagnostics

Alarms, events, and KPIs are designed from the start to be read by SCADA and MES. No flags bolted on later that maintenance can't interpret.

Documentation that lasts

Network diagrams, I/O maps, shared naming conventions. The next programmer — internal or ours — opens the project and gets oriented in a day.

Validation on real plants

We program on lines in production, not just on test benches. We commission alongside the operators: what doesn't work on the floor doesn't ship via remote support.

Migration to WinCC Unified

Go to the WinCC Unified migration

Porting panels from Comfort Panel and WinCC Advanced to WinCC Unified: conversion, faceplates, validation with the operator.

SCADA and MES

Discover the ARIA platform

Line supervision, OEE, batch traceability, alarms, and diagnostics in a single interface.

Robotics

Go to industrial robotics

Fanuc, KUKA, and ABB robot cells integrated with the PLC over industrial protocols. Safety and machine vision included.

Teleservice

See related services

Secure remote support on PLC, SCADA, MES, and HMI. When a line stops, minutes matter.

Frequently asked questions

What does PLC integration mean?

It's the work that connects the controller to everything around it: the operator panel, SCADA supervision, the MES, the ERP, the other machines on the line. Programming the PLC means writing the machine logic; integrating it means deciding which data it exposes, with which names, over which protocol, and with which acknowledgements. If that part isn't designed, every downstream system rebuilds the data its own way.

How do PLC alarms get to SCADA and HMI?

By defining them once in the PLC, with text, class, and priority, and letting panel and supervision read them from there. That's the approach IOMA uses by default: if alarms are rewritten by hand on every layer, sooner or later operator and maintenance read two different things for the same fault. On Siemens plants, system and Profinet diagnostics follow the same path.

Do you only work on Siemens PLCs?

Siemens (TIA Portal, S7-1200/1500, Sinamics) is the stack IOMA works on continuously, so it's the one where we can commit to firm timing. We do regularly work on mixed installations, though, because almost no factory is single-brand. The integration work — making different controllers talk and lifting data to a higher layer — runs through standard protocols like OPC UA, Modbus, and Profinet. Not through the PLC badge.

Can you work on a program someone else wrote?

Yes, and it's a significant share of IOMA's work. The first phase is understanding what's there: reading the program, reconstructing the logic, and saying what can be kept and what is better rewritten. If the code has no comments or the documentation doesn't match what's installed — it often doesn't — that reconstruction is a planned phase. Not a surprise discovered halfway.

How long does commissioning take?

It depends on how closely the field matches the design. On a new machine the variable is mechanics; on a retrofit it's whatever turns up once the cabinet is open. What can be fixed is the shutdown window: everything that can be prepared and tested beforehand — logic, recipes, interface — should arrive on site already working. Only the work that can only happen there is left on the floor.

Does the program stay modifiable by us or another supplier?

Yes — IOMA hands over on those terms by default, and writes it into the quote — and it's a condition worth putting in writing before starting, with any supplier: commented program, sources handed over, documentation updated to what was installed. A program only its author can maintain is a constraint you pay for at the first format change or the first out-of-hours failure.

Do you handle safety and motion as well?

Yes, IOMA handles them, and they usually can't be separated from the rest: functional safety (risk assessment, components, ISO 13849, verification at commissioning) has to be designed alongside machine logic. And multi-axis motion — virtual cams, gearing, synchronised axes — is where cycle precision is decided. Treating them as downstream activities is the fastest way to have to reopen the program.

How do you get PLC data to a MES, SCADA, or ERP?

The PLC stays the process source of truth: the upper layer observes and records, it doesn't bypass. The link runs over OPC UA or S7 to the supervisory layer — that is what ARIA Connector does inside ARIA MES/SCADA — and from there via API to MES or ERP. Worth deciding while the logic is being written, because adding data collection later means going back into the program.

Do you also migrate HMI panels to WinCC Unified?

Yes: IOMA ports projects built on Comfort Panels and WinCC Advanced — the line Siemens is phasing out — to WinCC Unified. The work touches the PLC too — tags, alarms, faceplates — which is why it's best done by people who know the machine logic. Method, timing, and what to plan for are on the dedicated migration page.
Let's talk

Got a project in mind?

Describe the line and the problem on a 30-minute technical call: we tell you straight away whether it's in our wheelhouse. We typically reply within 24 hours. From the first call to commissioning, you speak to the same person.

Let's talk about your project

Or:explore the ARIA platformhey@ioma.ai