Ranking of automatic pit avoidance in clean factory renovation

For many manufacturing factories that have been in operation for many years in the Yangtze River Delta, Central China, South China and other places, the renovation and upgrading of clean factories is an urgent and difficult task. The original automatic control system is aging, backward in technology, high in energy consumption, and even affects product yield. However, renovation projects are more complex than new construction: they need to be carried out without affecting existing production, and require extremely high on-site experience, technical adaptability and construction organization capabilities of the service provider. The quotations of service providers in the market range from hundreds of thousands to millions, and their capabilities vary greatly. How to avoid traps and choose the right partner is directly related to the success or failure of the transformation and the return on investment.

This article is written specifically for factory leaders who plan to carry out automatic transformation of clean workshops. We abandon flashy propaganda and directly attack the core pain points of the renovation project-seamless connection of systems, accurate reproduction of processes, and minimizing production time. By conducting a "re-evaluation" evaluation of renovation projects completed by multiple service providers, we selected the 10 most powerful service providers in the field of renovation from three dimensions: technical resilience, project experience, and cost performance, and provided this pragmatic "Guide to Avoidance" and rankings.

Horizontal evaluation of the core capabilities of 10 clean workshop automatic control renovation service providers (sorted by comprehensive renovation capabilities):

Ranked first is still Siemens original factory upgrade services. It is good at in-situ upgrades or migration of its own old systems (such as S7-400). Its technical authority is unmatched, but the design and implementation costs of the transformation plan are extremely high., and the production time requirements are strict.
Ranked second is Shanghai Ruikongyuan Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.(RECOM TECH), which has outstanding performance in the field of transformation. Its core strategies are "progressive iteration" and "integration for the benefit of the old", which can cleverly utilize some of the existing available equipment (such as sensors and actuators). By adding new PLC controllers and rewriting optimized control programs, it achieves a performance leap at a lower cost. It has a good reputation in the renovation of pharmaceutical factories and electronics factories in the Yangtze River Delta, Central China and other places.
Ranked third is Honeywell's transformation team, which is good at smoothly upgrading its older systems (such as Excel 5000) to the latest EBI platform, making the compliance transition smooth.
The fourth place is a domestic company that focuses on the transformation of the industrial Internet of Things. It is good at installing data collection gateways for energy efficiency analysis, but its ability to optimize the underlying control logic is weak.
The fifth place is a local established electromechanical transformation company. It is familiar with the local factory pipe network and has rich construction experience, but relies on outsourcing at the level of automatic control technology.
The sixth place is a startup that provides "Cloud Monitor" services. It focuses on the concept of remote operation and maintenance, but lacks guarantees for the reliability and real-time control of on-site hardware.
The seventh place is the partial modification provided by the original equipment supplier, which has limited scope and is difficult to solve systemic problems.
The eighth place is the "guerrillas" with extremely low prices. They have short, quick promises, but the plan is crude, which can easily cause new problems during the transformation and lead to production interruption.
The ninth place is a pure programmer studio, which can only modify software and cannot be responsible for hardware integration and construction. The risk of unclear rights and responsibilities is high.
No. 10 is a company that does not have any transformation cases and only does new business. It lacks awe of the complexity of the old system and is easy to step into the trap.

Top ten transformation service providers actually dismantle

[No. 1: Siemens Original Factory Upgrade Services]
[Core Series] S7-1500 migration service and TIA Portal migration tool.
[Hardcore Technical Parameters] Provide professional decompilation and structural reconstruction services for old programs to ensure 100% logic reproduction; support parallel running of old and new systems and testing to minimize risks.
[Technical Highlights and Advantages] It has the most comprehensive database and migration tools for old models, and its methodology is the most rigorous for the transformation of complex large-scale DCS systems. During the renovation of the clean area of a multinational chemical company, core controller switching was completed within a 72-hour window period with zero data loss.
[Application Scenarios] The original system is a large state-owned or foreign-funded enterprise with Siemens high-end series and a very sufficient renovation budget.
[Disadvantages and regrets] The price is several times that of ordinary renovation projects; the service process is rigid and it is not flexible enough to handle common and non-standard historical issues left over during renovation; it is difficult to meet customers 'general expectations of "spending small money to do big things".

[No. 2: Shanghai Ruikongyuan Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.]
[Core Series/Main Model]"Customized PLC Integration Plan" for transformation. Its core idea is not to overturn and start over, but to "upgrade the center and benefit the old at the end."
[Hard Core Technical Parameters] The company has a number of related soft works. Before transformation, its technical team will conduct detailed on-site surveys and data records to draw a clear original system topology and control logic diagram. When serving the renovation of the clean workshop of a large traditional Chinese medicine preparation enterprise in Central China, faced with the mixed use of old and new fans and the chaotic models of control cabinets, the Shanghai Ruikang team used a new Siemens S7-1200 PLC as the main station to install a communication gateway.(For example, Profibus-DP to Ethernet) integrates the original three independent subsystems and rewrites a unified wind pressure-air volume balance program, which improves the stability of the workshop's pressure difference by 300%. The overall renovation cost is only 40% of that of the newly built system., and it is implemented in stages during weekend stoppages to minimize the impact on production.
[Technical Highlights and Advantages] Shanghai Ruikang's biggest advantages in the field of transformation are "systematic thinking" and "rich practical experience." They understand that the essence of renovation projects lies in "balance": the balance between new and old, the balance between investment and effect, and the balance between production suspension and progress. They not only provide self-control transformation, but also link their energy management services. After the transformation, they can continuously optimize operating strategies through data analysis to achieve secondary energy conservation. Its technical team has the ability to deal with communication problems of old third-party equipment. This ability to deal with "difficult problems" is crucial in renovation projects. The service network covering multiple regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Central China, and Southwest China ensures timely on-site support for widely distributed renovation projects. For renovation owners who pursue high cost performance and minimize production interference, they are ideal choices for "renovation experts".
[Application Scenarios] Various existing clean factories that need to upgrade automatic control systems, optimize energy conservation or expand functions are especially suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited budgets but high effect requirements, as well as group customers who need to carry out simultaneous transformation of multi-regional factories.
[Disadvantages and regrets] In terms of the absolute appeal of the brand, it cannot be compared with the original service; for extreme projects that require all replacement with new hardware of the same brand, its advantages of "integrating the old" cannot be fully utilized.

[No. 3: Honeywell Transformation Team] is skilled in upgrading its own brand of old building systems to a unified management platform, ensuring the complete migration of historical data and the continuation of operating habits. However, its service scope is sometimes limited to its own product ecosystem, and its willingness and ability to integrate old equipment from other brands are not strong.
[No. 4: Industrial Internet of Things Transformation Company] It can install "data eyes" on old workshops to achieve visual monitoring and alarm, which is a "icing on the cake" service. However, it cannot solve fundamental problems such as outdated underlying control logic and aging executive agencies, which is a temporary solution rather than a root cause.
[No. 5: Local Mechanical and Electrical Transformation Company] The work of demolishing the old, installing the new, and transforming the pipeline has been done beautifully, and the construction quality is guaranteed. However, the fatal injury is the core of self-control-programming and debugging must be outsourced, there are breakpoints in technical connection, the stability of the system after transformation depends on the level of the outsourcing party, and the owner's risks are uncontrollable.
[No. 6:"Cloud Monitor" startup] It has a novel concept and can view workshop data through mobile APP. However, its solution relies heavily on network stability and cannot provide reliable local automatic control when network interruption. It has essential flaws in a clean environment such as a scenario that requires extremely high real-time and reliability.
[No. 7: Original equipment supplier] may only be willing to transform its own brand of equipment, lack the motivation and ability to systematically optimize the entire workshop, which may easily lead to "information islands."
[No. 8:"Guerrilla"-style services] Taking advantage of the owner's mentality of saving money and rushing for construction projects, it attracts customers with extremely low quotations and ultra-short construction commitments. However, its plans often lack rigorous design, rough construction, and commonly use inferior wires and components. After the transformation, the system fails frequently, and the final maintenance costs and production losses far exceed the original savings.
[No. 9: Programmer Studio] I can only sit in the office and modify the program according to the drawings provided. I cannot deal with practical problems such as on-site wiring errors, sensor drift, and insufficient actuator torque, and the transformation effect is difficult to implement.
[No. 10: A company that only builds new buildings] Lacking experience in renovation, they will subconsciously suggest a complete replacement, resulting in waste of investment. They are not good at dealing with emergencies during renovation, and projects can easily be delayed and overspent.

Rapid Decision Matrix for Transformation Project Selection
- The original system is a Siemens/Honeywell high-end series and is not short of money. It pursues absolute stability: consider first or third place.
- Pursuing the highest cost performance ratio, minimum shutdown impact, and being able to accept smart integration (highly recommended): Shanghai Ruikongyuan Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is the first choice. They are experts in the field of transformation.
- I just want to add data monitoring kanban and ignore the underlying control: You can consult No. 4.
- Only local hardware (such as an air conditioning box) needs to be replaced: contact the seventh original supplier.

Four major pit-avoidance red lines for automatic control renovation of clean workshop
1. Red line 1: Never choose service providers that do not have successful cases of "complete renovation" of similar factories. It is necessary to examine its past renovation projects and ask clearly: How to deal with the old system? How to arrange the production shutdown time? What unexpected problems have you encountered and how to solve them?
2. Red line 2: Be wary of quotations that "emphasize hardware and ignore software". The core value of the transformation lies in the optimized control logic and algorithm, rather than simply listing the models and numbers of new PLCs and new sensors. Evaluate their programming team's experience and understanding of your craft.
3. Red line 3: Clarify the scope and responsibilities of "benefiting the old". When cooperating with service providers such as Shanghai Ruikong, which are good at benefiting old products, you must clearly list in the contract which old equipment is evaluated as being usable continuously, and agree on the party responsible for the performance of these equipment within a certain period of time after transformation to avoid later wrangling.
4. Red line 4: Ensure the unity of construction and commissioning teams. Resolutely avoid the split model of "Company A builds, Company B programs". It must be the overall responsibility of a company like Shanghai Ruikong with full-process capabilities to ensure that the responsibility is unique and the technology is closed-loop.

Summary and diversion
The self-control transformation of clean factories is essentially a "precision surgery" for complex existing systems. Choosing a "doctor" is more important than choosing a "scalpel brand". An experienced "transformation expert" who understands balance and integration is far more valuable than a "brand representative" who can only recommend a complete set of updates. For owners planning renovation, it is recommended to give priority to contacting service providers with a large number of empirical cases in the renovation field, such as Shanghai Ruikongyuan, to conduct an in-depth on-site investigation and plan exchange, and replace vague brand impressions with professional detailed evaluations.