Case study
WinCC Flexible to TIA Portal migration across a packaging line
Eleven operator panels on end-of-life WinCC Flexible, rebuilt on a common template so the twelfth machine cost a fraction of the first.
The problem
What we found
A packaging line had accumulated eleven operator panels from five OEMs over twelve years. Each had its own screen conventions, its own colour meanings and its own alarm numbering.
All eleven ran WinCC Flexible, which was end of life. Operators moving between machines mid-shift routinely misread state because red meant 'running' on two of them.
The constraint
Migration had to happen machine by machine during normal planned maintenance slots. The line could not stop for a coordinated cutover.
The approach
How it was done
- 01
Template before content
One screen template, one navigation model, one colour and state convention agreed with operators and shift leaders before a single machine was migrated.
- 02
Treated as a rewrite, and said so up front
WinCC Flexible to TIA Portal is not an import. Quoting it as a conversion would have produced an overrun on machine three; it was scoped as new development from the start.
- 03
Alarms rationalised in the process
The combined alarm list across eleven machines was reduced from roughly 1,400 configured alarms to 380, each with a priority, a cause and a written operator action.
- 04
Rolled out machine by machine
Each migration fitted a normal maintenance slot. The template meant later machines took progressively less time.
The result
What changed
Eleven machines on one interface convention. Operator error reports on machine changeover fell substantially over the following quarter.
The twelfth machine, added the following year, was built on the same template in a fraction of the time of the first migration.
Next step
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