Most plants discover the gap in their automation support at two in the morning, with a line stopped and nobody to call who understands the program. An IT AMC does not cover a PLC. The panel builder who supplied the hardware does not maintain the logic. ATMAN provides annual maintenance and support contracts for Siemens PLC, SCADA and HMI systems β backups, health checks, breakdown response and the one thing that actually shortens a stoppage: somebody who already knows your plant.
Why an Automation AMC Is Not the Same as an Electrical or IT AMC
Plants often believe they are covered and are not. The three contracts most sites already hold each stop short of the control system:
| Contract you may already have | What it actually covers | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| IT / server AMC | Desktops, servers, network, antivirus | Does not touch PLC logic, SCADA applications or HMI projects |
| Electrical AMC | Panels, cabling, switchgear, motors | Hardware only β no program, no configuration, no control behaviour |
| OEM machine warranty | That machine, that vendorβs scope | Ends at the machine boundary; plant-wide interlocks and integration belong to nobody |
| Original integrator, informally | Whatever goodwill survives | No obligation, no response time, and no guarantee the same engineer is still there |
What an ATMAN Support Contract Covers
- Program and project backups β PLC, HMI and SCADA, versioned and held off-site, with restores actually tested rather than assumed
- Scheduled health checks β CPU diagnostics, memory and load, battery and retentive memory, communication error counters, panel temperature, filters and fan condition
- Breakdown response β remote first where connectivity allows, on-site where it does not
- Fault diagnosis and rectification on PLC, HMI, SCADA and the field devices in scope
- Minor logic changes within an agreed annual allowance β the small modifications every plant needs and nobody wants to raise a purchase order for
- Obsolescence watch β early warning on components heading out of support, so a migration is planned rather than forced
- Spares advice β the critical-spares list you should actually hold, sized against what stops production
- Documentation upkeep β drawings and functional descriptions kept current as changes are made, instead of drifting from reality
Contract Structures
Scope is set against what the plant can afford to lose, not against a standard package. Broadly, three shapes:
| Essential | Standard | Comprehensive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backups | Periodic | Scheduled, off-site | Scheduled, off-site, restore-tested |
| Health checks | Annual | Half-yearly | Quarterly |
| Breakdown support | Business hours, remote | Priority remote + site visits | Extended-hours cover |
| Site visits | On call, chargeable | Included allowance | Higher included allowance |
| Minor logic changes | Chargeable | Annual allowance | Larger allowance |
| Obsolescence review | β | Annual | Annual, with migration roadmap |
| Typically suits | Small plant, low downtime cost | Most process plants | Continuous or multi-shift operation |
Response commitments are written into the contract with a number against them. A support contract without a stated response time is a mailing list.
Remote Support β Where It Helps and Where It Does Not
Secure remote access resolves a meaningful share of faults in minutes instead of the hours a site visit takes. It is not a substitute for attendance, and we will not pretend otherwise.
- Resolves well remotely: logic faults, HMI and SCADA issues, parameter and recipe problems, communication configuration, alarm floods, diagnostics and log retrieval
- Needs attendance: failed hardware, field wiring, instrument faults, anything requiring isolation, and any work where somebody must physically watch the plant respond
Remote access is set up on your terms β connection you control, enabled when needed rather than left permanently open, with every session logged. An automation system reachable from the internet at all times is a liability, not a feature.
The Backup Question
Ask your team, today, three questions: where is the current PLC program backed up, when was that backup taken, and has anyone ever restored it successfully.
On most sites the honest answers are: on an engineerβs laptop, at some point before the last three modifications, and no. A backup nobody has restored is not a backup β it is a belief. This is the cheapest item in any support contract and by a wide margin the one that saves the most production.
What It Prevents
- Extended stoppages β an engineer who already has your program and drawings starts diagnosing, not orientating
- Grey-market emergency purchases β obsolescence spotted early is a planned buy, not a panic one at three times the price
- Knowledge loss β the plantβs control knowledge survives your engineer changing jobs
- Documentation drift β drawings stay true, so the next project does not begin with a survey
- Forced migrations β you choose the shutdown window instead of a failed CPU choosing it for you
Who This Suits
- Dairies and food plants where a stoppage puts raw material at risk within hours
- Cooperatives and unions with no in-house automation engineer
- Process plants on multi-shift operation where downtime cost is measured per hour
- Plants whose original integrator has moved on, or whose system was built by someone no longer contactable
- Sites carrying ageing Siemens hardware that need the obsolescence position watched β see Siemens PLC migration
We take on systems we did not build. That normally starts with a paid audit β read out the program, document what is there, establish the backup position β so the contract is written against the plant as it actually is rather than as described.
Our Response Commitment
A support contract without a stated response time is a mailing list. These are ours, written plainly β including the part most suppliers leave out.
| Response | Commitment |
|---|---|
| Telephonic response by an engineer | Immediate. You speak to somebody who understands control systems, not a ticket desk that logs the call and promises a callback |
| Remote diagnosis | Begins on that same call wherever connectivity allows |
| Physical site attendance β Comprehensive AMC | Within 12 hours of the fault being reported |
| Physical site attendance β other contract levels | Per the tier agreed; stated in your contract, not left open |
The caveat, stated openly: the 12-hour attendance commitment is subject to travel distance and the availability of transport. A plant four hours from Ahmedabad is not the same as one in Sanand, and an overnight response to a remote district depends on flights and trains that we do not control.
Because immediate telephonic access is the first line, a large share of faults are resolved before anyone travels at all. Logic faults, HMI and SCADA issues, parameter and recipe problems, communication configuration and alarm floods are usually cleared remotely in minutes. Attendance is for what genuinely needs hands on the plant: failed hardware, field wiring, instrument faults and anything requiring isolation.
Your response level and the site-visit allowance are set against what an hour of downtime costs you. That figure is the first thing we ask, and it should be the first thing any support supplier asks.
Common Questions
Will you support a system another company built?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. It starts with an audit β read out and document the existing program, establish a verified backup, list the obsolescence risks. Only then can a response commitment mean anything.
What if we have no drawings or documentation?
Common. The audit reconstructs the functional description from the running program and your teamβs knowledge. Documentation then becomes a deliverable of the contract rather than a permanent gap.
Is remote access secure?
It is set up on your terms β a connection you control, enabled when needed rather than permanently open, with sessions logged. We would refuse a permanently open path into a production control system.
Do you cover non-Siemens systems?
Our depth is Siemens, and that is what we contract against. Where a plant carries mixed hardware we will say clearly what we will and will not commit to, rather than accepting scope we cannot properly serve.
What happens if a part is obsolete when it fails?
That is what obsolescence review exists to prevent. Where it does happen we source what is available, get the plant running, and put a planned migration in front of you instead of repeating the emergency.
Can the AMC include changes, not just breakdowns?
Yes. Contracts carry an annual allowance for minor logic and screen changes. Larger work is quoted separately, but the small changes that otherwise wait months are covered.
How is it priced?
Against what the plant can afford to lose β system size, I/O count, number of controllers, shift pattern and response commitment. Downtime cost per hour is the number that should set the level, and it is the first thing we ask.
Related
Related: Industrial Automation · Siemens PLC Migration · SCADA System Integration · PLC Programming · Dairy Plant Automation
Discuss an Automation Support Contract
Tell us what you run β controllers and HMI, roughly how many I/O, your shift pattern, and what an hour of downtime costs you. Our engineers will come back with a scope, a response commitment and an indicative annual figure.