Software Defined Automation expands Industrial DevOps solution for manufacturing automation systems

New capabilities and more support for users of popular PLC vendors deliver improved management, streamlined development, and lower OT cybersecurity risks

Today at SPS 2024 Software Defined Automation announced new features and expanded vendor support for its Industrial DevOps solution. Automation engineers can upload documents, orchestrate complex workflows, and comment on projects to improve management and development of their industrial automation systems. In addition, Software Defined Automation increased support for Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, and Siemens programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and engineering software.

“Across manufacturing, there is a very wide range of industrial controllers in use. Some are state-of-the-art, but many older PLCs, robots, and drives are still employed in critical production systems,” said Dr. Josef Waltl, Founder and CEO, Software Defined Automation Inc. “The released extensions of our end-to-end Industrial DevOps platform help the automation engineers tasked with keeping all of these devices running reliably. Support for more vendors and more of their engineering software versions means more customers can take advantage of Industrial DevOps, and the new features contribute to gains in efficiency, saved time and cost, and reduced risk.”

With SDA, automation engineers securely connect to their systems from anywhere, streamline development and enhance collaboration, quickly back up and recover code, and track PLC code changes across multiple vendors.

Software Defined Automation adds support for Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, and Siemens

Software Defined Automation now supports Mitsubishi Electric’s engineering software, GX Works3. Automated Backup, code Version Control, and Browser-based Engineering for GX Works3 are available today and enable automation engineers to make changes, save, deploy, and backup their PLCs from anywhere using a web browser. In addition, Software Defined Automation has extended its support for Rockwell Automation Studio 5000 Logix Designer back to version 15 and to version 14 for Siemens TIA Portal.

New features improve project management and collaboration, reduce time spent on low-value tasks, and decrease security risks

Document Uploads, in General Availability as of today, provide manufacturers with a central repository for all documentation associated with a project/machine/workcell, such as work instructions, maintenance guides, and electrical drawings, to improve management and storage. Any documents uploaded to the selected project are fully version managed. Rendering is currently available for PDFs with renderings for additional document types coming soon.

Pipelines, available as a Public Preview as of today, automate the orchestration of complex PLC backup, deployment, and disaster recovery workflows. Configuring backups and deployments on a per-device basis, especially across diverse, multi-vendor environments, is time-consuming and requires extensive manual effort. Now, automation engineers can create a unified workflow that backs up, deploys, and restores PLC code versions for hundreds of controllers at once, which is especially helpful to reduce mean time to recover (MTTR) in the event of a disaster, cyberattack, or other incident.

Project Commenting, available as a Public Preview as of today, enhances collaboration and communication among automation engineers as they collectively work on PLC programs. Users can add comments to each block of PLC code, and then Project Commenting displays a notification to indicate comments are present and available to be addressed. Users can review the comments, make changes to the code based on the input, and respond back, all within the project.

Industrial DevOps at SPS 2024

On 12-14 November 2024, Software Defined Automation is showcasing its Industrial DevOps solution in Hall 7 Stand 196 at SPS 2024. Attendees can learn how to manage, extend, deploy, and secure their PLC code and see live demos of Automated Backup, Version Control, Browser-based Engineering, Factory Agent AI-generated Code Documentation, and Secure Remote Access. A modular robot cell presented in partnership with NEXOS.Group simulates remote robot commissioning, using Industrial DevOps to configure the robot, integrate it into a production system, and test it.

In addition, in Hall 3A Stand 411, SEW-EURODRIVE will preview its DriveOperations concept, a secure, web-based tool developed jointly with Software Defined Automation and Clevertech S. p. A. that revolutionizes the orchestration and distribution of software for the operational technology of different manufacturers.

About Software Defined Automation

Founded by manufacturing, industrial software, and cloud experts, Software Defined Automation envisions a future where PLC management and development is simple, secure, and efficient, so that factories can increase uptime, reduce mean time to recover, and maximize the productivity of their assets. The company is headquartered in Boston with offices in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.softwaredefinedautomation.io.