PLC programming, process visualization and turnkey commissioning for production plants in food, building materials, pharmaceuticals and recycling. Vendor independent and fully documented.
The first call takes 45 minutes and costs nothing. You get a technical assessment, even if we end up not working together.
Most plants in mid-sized industry are mechanically sound. What holds them back is a control system nobody understands any more and documentation nobody can find.
The program has grown over ten years, the original programmer left long ago and there is no reliable documentation. Every change becomes a risk, so nothing gets changed. The plant runs, but you cannot develop it further.
The line stops now and then. The message says "fault drive 3", but nobody knows why. Your maintenance team searches in the dark because the visualization does not show what actually happened before the stop.
Every small change goes through the manufacturer. You wait weeks for an appointment, pay travel time and a daily rate, and still get no access to the source code of your own plant.
You know the hourly rate but not the final sum. Halfway through the project the question comes up whether the budget will hold. And the answer comes from the person who earns from every additional hour.
One hour of unplanned downtime in a mid-sized production line quickly costs more than a full day of engineering. The case is not decided by the hourly rate but by availability.
I work as an automation architect, not as a temporary programming resource. A project is finished when your plant reaches the agreed figures in production, your staff has been trained and the documentation is complete on your side. Not when the hours have run out.
Fewer unplanned stops through clean state logic, reliable diagnostics and an alarm structure that points at the cause instead of the symptom.
Modifications are simulated and dry tested in advance. On site the system is switched over, not developed.
Repeatable recipes, traceable batches, defined interlocks. Also when your most experienced shift leader is on holiday.
Program, visualization, schematics, documentation and training from one source. No interface that nobody feels responsible for.
Every project starts with a technical survey. After that you receive a quotation with a defined scope and a date.
The starting pointOne to two days on site
A survey of your control and visualization landscape: hardware status, program quality, diagnostic capability, spare part risk and documentation gaps. You receive a written report with prioritized measures, an effort estimate and a clear recommendation on what has to be done now and what can wait.
Fully credited against a follow-up project.
The main projectExecuted within the planned shutdown window
Migration of existing plants to current control technology: S5 and S7-300 to S7-1500, replacement of discontinued panels, migration of the bus level, replacement of components that are no longer available. Includes restructuring of the software, simulation before the switchover and commissioning, including weekends and plant holidays.
The operator levelWinCC, FactoryTalk or Aveva
A new operating and monitoring level for your plant: a consistent screen hierarchy, meaningful alarms with a hint at the cause, trend recording, recipe and batch management plus a role concept that fits your shift operation.
The data basisFoundation for ISO 50001 and investment decisions
Metering of electricity, compressed air, heat and water down to line or plant level. A dashboard showing consumption per batch or per ton, peak load detection and reports that let you justify investments to management.
Defined response time, secured remote access, one fixed contact. For plants where downtime is not an option.
By arrangement
Automation is not a pure software topic. Anyone who does not know how a mixer behaves under load, or why a feeding system reacts differently in winter, programs past reality.
Temperature zones, melt pressure, drive synchronization, recipe management and start-up automation.
Weighing technology, conveyor and route interlocking, level monitoring, material tracking, dust loaded areas.
Recipe control, batch logging, scale calibration, top-up dosing logic, consistent quality across all shifts.
Circuits, pump control, filter backwashing, dosing, limit monitoring and alarms.
Cycle control, pressure and position control, tool management, safety interlocks.
Control loops, heat recovery, flow temperature control and early fault detection.
Hygienic design, CIP processes, batch traceability, dosing and mixing plants. Documentation that holds up in an IFS audit.
Silo and feeding systems, mixers, presses, weighing technology. Retrofit of old S5 and S7 installations during the winter shutdown.
Traceable process control, access rights and audit trail concepts, clean change documentation aligned with your qualification.
Sorting, shredding and conveying lines, throughput optimization, wear and fault diagnostics, quantity recording.
I do not sell hardware and I have no sales agreement with any manufacturer. The platform is chosen based on what already runs in your plant, what your maintenance team can handle and what you will still get spare parts for in ten years.
After every project you receive the complete commented source code, the project files in the engineering software used and documentation a third party can work with. Dependency is not a business model.
Five steps in which you always know what happens next and what it costs.
We clarify the plant, the goal and the time frame. Afterwards you know whether and how your plan can be implemented.
Survey of hardware, software and documentation. The result is a written concept with prioritized measures.
Clear scope and a clear date. You know where you stand before the project starts.
Programming, visualization and testing happen up front. Only what already works on the test bench goes into the plant.
Switchover within the agreed shutdown window, optimization during production, training for your staff, handover of source code and documentation.
Out of respect for confidentiality agreements I do not name customers. I am happy to discuss the technical details in person.
Specific plants, figures and contacts are discussed in the first call, in line with the confidentiality agreements of the customers involved.
My name is Luca Werner. For more than 13 years I have worked on production plants, from the control cabinet through the controller to the visualization. I have started up extruders, commissioned silo systems, rebuilt mixing plants, controlled water systems and made energy data visible.
There is no project manager here who makes a promise and a junior who has to keep it. Whoever writes the quotation is also the one standing at the plant at three in the morning. That limits my capacity and is the reason I only take on projects I can fully own.
If you want to know whether I fit your plant, call me. Ten minutes on the phone say more than any self description on a website.
Through the plant audit. Without knowing the plant, the state of the program and your time frame, any figure would be a guess.
Your manufacturer knows their machine. I look at the line as a whole: interfaces, data flow, operating concept and availability across plant boundaries. In many projects I work together with the machine builder, not against them.
No, that is one of my most common starting points. What matters is planning the migration before the spare parts market decides for you.
Statutory warranty applies. Beyond that I stay available as a contact who knows the plant.
A first call usually within a few days, an audit normally within two to three weeks. Project dates follow your shutdown windows, not the other way round.
Yes, across Europe. Travel time and travel costs are part of the quotation and are not invoiced separately.
Describe your plant briefly and what you want to achieve. You will get a reply and a proposed date within 24 hours. In the first call we clarify whether your plan makes technical and economic sense. If it does not, I will tell you.