Rockwell Automation, an expert in
the programming, troubleshooting
and timely deployment of
automation solutions, uses a
common development environment
for its Logix-based solutions. The
benefits, it says, extend across all of
the Logix family – from lower-level
devices such as drives and motion,
through the core Allen-Bradley
CompactLogix L3 programmable
automation controllers (PAC), to the
top, operator-interaction and
visualisation layer.

By offering a suite of tools with the
same consistency, look and feel, that
interact seamlessly with each other,
coupled to a single, common data
source, all engineers on a project have
access to all the information they
need, when they need it and at the
right version number.

Core to the Rockwell Automation
programming environment in terms
of visualisation is its FactoryTalk
View Studio package. By linking into
the PAC, which remains the core
repository for data and programming
throughout the developmental stages,
users can access faceplates to hook
directly into data structures. They can
define linkages by browsing the tag
database, which creates a reference to
the data in the PAC. A single location
for code and tags means everything
can be referenced and updated
without moving the data.