Siemens Arrogance

[PLCMaster]

If you are looking to buy or replace S5 or S7 parts , forget Siemens and go straight to VIPA. As some of you probably well know , they sell the exact copy which slots straight into the S5 or S7 racks and are a 3rd to half the price difference . I recently had to ring Siemens regarding an S5 multi axis encoder card and repairing it . They wanted AUS $6500 for new or $3200 for repair , and wouldn't budge , as the say they no longer make this type of card. I bought the exact replacement card ( brand new ) through VIPA for $2700. Siemens have subsequently now lost all my business wether it be for an entire plc or I/O cards ( s5 or s7 ) as the Vipa units kill them hands down and are half the price , if not less. I'll settle for the minor detour of setting up a virtual profibus with the vipa units , and with a scantime in the microsecond range for the Speed7 series and an ethernet port to go , it makes the S7 400 look very ordinary indeed . To top it off , they use Step7 too. Thanks Siemens for outpricing yourself and making my decision so easy . You've just lost a minimum of over $100k ( if not more ) a year in sales from me alone. Edited November 2, 2005 by PLCMaster