Common Issues with Aging Industrial Control Systems
In today’s manufacturing environment, reliability and uptime are critical. Yet many facilities continue to operate with aging industrial control systems—some decades old and well past their intended lifecycle. These legacy systems might still function, but they often pose significant risks to productivity, safety, and scalability.
According to industry research from ARC and Schneider Electric, an estimated $65 billion worth of industrial automation assets are reaching the end of their useful life, creating a significant risk exposure for manufacturers operating on outdated systems (source).
At RT Engineering, we work with manufacturers throughout New England to modernize aging control infrastructure and prevent costly downtime. Below, we explore the most common issues found in aging industrial control systems—and what you can do to address them.
What Are Industrial Control Systems?
Industrial control systems (ICS) are the backbone of modern manufacturing operations. They include programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), industrial PCs, motor starters, relays, sensors, and custom control panels—all working together to manage and automate machinery and processes.
These systems are built for rugged environments, but even well-maintained equipment has a finite lifecycle. As technology advances and production demands grow, older systems can begin to fall short in performance, reliability, and compliance.
Common Problems with Aging Industrial Control Systems
Obsolete Hardware and Software
A primary issue is the reliance on legacy equipment that’s no longer supported by manufacturers. PLCs like the Allen-Bradley SLC 500 or Siemens S5 have reached end-of-life status, making it increasingly difficult to source spare parts or receive technical support. Software tools for programming and diagnostics may be incompatible with modern operating systems or lack cybersecurity updates.
Many manufacturers weighing PLC vs. PC-based control systems discover that continuing to operate with obsolete platforms hinders scalability and introduces unnecessary risk.
Component Degradation and Electrical Failures
Time takes its toll on electrical components. Corrosion, heat stress, and vibration can cause terminal blocks to loosen, insulation to degrade, and relays or contactors to fail. These issues contribute to erratic behavior and costly unplanned downtime.
Modern control panel design best practices incorporate strategies like thermal management, component spacing, and environmental sealing—factors often missing in legacy installations.
Incompatibility with Modern Equipment
As manufacturers adopt smart devices, vision systems, and IIoT platforms, older control systems may lack the communication protocols or processing capabilities needed to interface with them. Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP, and Profinet are now standard, but older hardware may only support legacy protocols like RS-232 or DH+.
This kind of integration gap often surfaces during SCADA system implementations, where data visibility, remote diagnostics, or alarm handling must bridge old and new infrastructure.
Lack of Documentation and Tribal Knowledge
Over the years, documentation often becomes outdated—or disappears entirely. Many older systems were built by engineers or technicians who have since retired or moved on, and critical knowledge may never have been recorded.
This reliance on "tribal knowledge" can slow down troubleshooting, hinder upgrades, and increase risk when changes are made without a full understanding of system behavior or interdependencies.
Frequent Downtime and Troubleshooting Challenges
Aging components and outdated designs often lack robust diagnostics, leaving operators and maintenance teams guessing. Frequent resets, nuisance alarms, and inconsistent performance become routine.
What starts as a simple restart can cascade into hours of production loss—especially when compounded by the lack of documentation or visibility discussed earlier.
Outdated Safety and Compliance Features
Control systems installed 15 to 25 years ago were not designed to meet today’s standards for functional safety. This includes modern requirements from OSHA, NFPA 70E, and ISO 13849.
Inadequate emergency stop circuits, missing safety relays, and unlabeled wiring are common issues. Effective industrial control panel design must now incorporate safety logic, proper labeling, and ergonomic access to meet compliance and protect workers.
Operational and Financial Risks
Beyond technical issues, outdated industrial control systems carry significant financial and operational liabilities:
Increased downtime from failing components or hard-to-diagnose faults
Higher maintenance costs and long lead times for replacement parts
Potential safety violations and legal exposure
Reduced process efficiency from limited automation or integration
What may seem like a cost-saving measure to “just keep it running” often results in reactive maintenance, unpredictable outages, and constrained growth.
Signs Your Industrial Control System Needs an Upgrade
If you're unsure whether your control system is holding you back, here are a few common red flags:
Operators frequently reset or bypass parts of the system
You're sourcing spare parts from eBay or surplus suppliers
Your PLC, HMI, or SCADA platform is no longer supported
There’s no backup of your programs or panel schematics
Troubleshooting takes longer than fixing the problem
These signs often point to the need for a phased or full modernization strategy. For some manufacturers, this starts with assessing and retrofitting one panel or line—then scaling up as needed. It may also align with a broader push toward custom automation solutions to improve flexibility and throughput.
How RT Engineering Can Help
RT Engineering partners with manufacturers across Massachusetts and New England to upgrade outdated systems and reduce the risk of failure. Whether you're dealing with a single legacy panel or an entire plant-wide retrofit, we deliver:
SCADA system integration and data logging
Field installation, commissioning, and ongoing support
Our approach is grounded in real-world experience and tailored to your environment, budget, and goals.
Conclusion
Aging industrial control systems don’t just pose a technical challenge—they can limit growth, increase costs, and compromise safety. The longer you wait to modernize, the more expensive and urgent those upgrades become.
Whether you're proactively planning for future capacity or responding to recurring failures, upgrading your control systems can improve uptime, compliance, and peace of mind.
Ready to get started? Request a system evaluation with RT Engineering today.