Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for pLC panel builders.
A checklist built from how pLC panel builders work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Panel quotation from bill of materials
- Drawing and revision control
- Component procurement and shortages
- Wiring and assembly jobs
- Program and parameter register
- Test records and acceptance
- Dispatch and site commissioning
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For estimators
- For design engineers
- For stores and purchasing
- For wiremen and fitters
- For test and commissioning engineers
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Panels on the bench by build stage and promised date
- Shortage list by panel and supplier
- Quotes open, won and lost per customer
- Hours booked against estimate by panel
- Insulation and continuity failures by check type
- Programme and drive parameter versions loaded by panel
- Punch items open at commissioning
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Supplier price list import
- Accounting export
- Document storage for drawing PDFs
- SMS
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can I see which panels are held up by one component?
- How do drawing revisions reach the wiring bay?
- Does it hold PLC programmes?
- Can customers witness a test?
- Can we quote a panel from a past one?
- Does it design the panel?
- What does it need to start?
- How is the quotation for the software prepared?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Drawing revisions reach the wiring bay late
- One component holds up the whole panel
- Program versions are kept on a laptop
- Test sheets are paper and scattered
- Quotes miss engineering and test hours
Prefer to talk it through? See the pLC panel builders page.