🚀 GEFRAN's Refurbishment Service for Machine Controls: A New Lease on Life for the Old!

[Elif Özaksu]

🛠️ Retrofit Service for Machine Controls from GEFRAN​

GEFRAN has launched a brand new retrofit service for control, regulation, and automation technologies! Through this service, businesses will be able to bring their old machines up to the latest technological standards. Moreover, instead of making expensive new investments, they will achieve significant savings by modernizing their existing equipment.

🎯 Why Retrofit?​

• Increased Repeatability: Higher consistency in your production processes.
  
• Plant Availability: Your machines remain operational for longer periods.
  
• Extended Lifespan: Significantly extending the service life of your existing production assets.
  
• Digital Integration: Integrating your old machines into modern automation concepts and Industry 4.0 applications.
  

⚙️ Customized Modernization and System Integration​

GEFRAN's retrofit offering covers a wide range, from simple control software updates to complete panel modernization, including machine wiring. GEFRAN works in close cooperation with operators and machine manufacturers to analyze technical and economic framework conditions (e.g., unstable process qualities, excessive energy consumption, or obsolete electronic components). With continuous remote support after implementation, machine performance is sustainably optimized. Users benefit from high system openness, which facilitates the seamless integration of third-party components into the control concept.

📦 Container Technology for PLCs​

One of the key elements of this new service is the modular G-Mation automation platform. At the heart of this solution is the G-Mation P6 programmable logic controller (PLC), which offers modern Docker container technology. This container architecture enables new IT applications to be executed securely, quickly, and in isolation on already installed machines. By simply adopting pre-built application templates for common production technologies, companies can automate their old machines without the need for deep intervention in the existing mechanical structure of their machines.

💡 PLC Virtualization and Edge Computing​

In industrial automation, the obsolescence of control components (such as PLCs, HMIs, and drive controllers) poses a significant risk to mechanically sound machines. Retrofitting solves this problem by replacing old Operational Technology (OT) with modern, IT-compatible hardware. The use of Docker containers at the PLC level, as seen in the G-Mation P6, signifies a technological paradigm shift. Traditionally, software updates in monolithic PLC programs require machine downtime and carry the risk of system instability. However, container technologies isolate individual applications such as edge analytics, MQTT gateways, or machine learning algorithms from the real-time control core of the machine. This allows developers to update, add, or independently restart new IIoT functionalities during ongoing operation, without jeopardizing the safety-critical basic control of the plant.