Complex systems are controlled on multiple levels, which are coordinated with one another by the system architecture in such a way that the manufacturing processes interact efficiently with one another. Software architect Thilo Opaterny, 45, has been working for roughly two years on a new architecture for the Simatic platform. “Every ten years, the old structures come up against their limits,” he explains. Additions to the industrial processes can no longer be efficiently integrated into the overall workflow, and production becomes more complex and thus ultimately more expensive. If a brewery would like to add another vat to its production facility to increase yield, for example, the existing system can be extended. But without special precautions and consideration on the part of the user, the extension will have a negative effect on the control system’s reaction time. Sooner or later the point is reached where the existing control system no longer has sufficient capacity to connect all the needed controllers, valves, and sensors without jeopardizing the process. “The foundation is no longer sufficient for that,” says Opaterny in describing the problem.

Higher, faster, farther is therefore the motto for the comprehensive revamping of the PLC platform on which Opaterny is working. His role is really that of an architect in the construction of a house. The subproject managers and their staff develop new software for each component. Opaterny makes sure all the Step 7 subprojects from V10.0+ and beyond go together and, in particular, that they offer sufficient capacity for future tasks. “I have to imagine problems that customers aren’t even aware they may encounter some day,” jokes Opaterny.

This requires painstaking persuasion on the part of the software architect. Some of the tasks are so complex that it sometimes takes weeks before everyone involved understands the direction the project has to take. “Things have a tendency to drift apart,” says Opaterny about his work. “My job is to bring them back together at a common point.”

Opaterny has already come up with 24 inventions for Siemens, resulting in the granting of 38 individual patents and 20 patent families. He is particularly proud of an error message box he invented for the new Simatic Step7 Generation+ system. Unlike conventional error handling via an organization module, it allows users to handle errors where they can also be rectified. “Errors in automation systems typically occur in the communication between various parts of the system,” says Opaterny. A program in a loop could query the speed of motors, for example. The program erroneously runs through the loop too often, and a non-existent measuring point would have to be queried as a result. This generates an error message, and the system shuts down. “Such outages are frustrating, dangerous, unacceptable in certain situations, and often unnecessary,” says Opaterny. That’s why he devised a solution in which the user recognizes what kind of an error has occurred and can react accordingly. “Sometimes the user can simply ignore the error message, or the user defines an alternate reaction for this case,” he explains. The user might also recognize that it is a programming error and rewrite the program. Analysis of the reasons for the errors with the new system is still not as easy as it needs to be, “but that is ordinary technical work that we still need to do.” Opaterny is convinced that his new error box and the corresponding error structure will soon become the standard in the new generation of Simatic S7 automation systems.

Interdisciplinary thinking is important for Opaterny’s work. As a young man he did his vocational training as a telecommunications technician with Siemens and later studied computer science, before returning to Siemens in 1994. He worked at the Inventor’s Center in Erlangen while completing his studies. “There I learned to express myself so that experts in a variety of disciplines could understand me,” says Opaterny. After all, the same thing holds true for collaborating on inventions as for automation systems: Most errors occur in communication.