V350 to PC to PLEXUS

[Bruceson]

We are currently using several Unitronics V350’s in our manufacturing facility. We currently have PCs at every work station that are used to report production to PLEXUS for inventory and production monitoring. My questions involve the pro and cons and different ways of getting the data from the PLC into the PLEXUS system on the PCs.

Can the V350 be used as a peripheral device on the PC? Send data viva serial port and have the PC look at it like data from a barcode scanner? This would be the simplest way because the PCs are already on the floor and networked.

All the V350s have the TPC\IP card installed already.

What are the other options and your recommendations to achieve this goal.

Any and all recommendations and ideas will be greatly appreciated as this is the first time I will be trying to attempt a PLC to PC coms project.