14/08/2026
This PLC has been running for years. No fuss. No drama. It just works.
Meanwhile I hear the same line on almost every site: “the old stuff was built better. The new kit fails in a couple of years.”
I understand why it feels true. But I’m not sure it is:
1.) The old kit you see still running is the kit that survived. Every panel that died in year 3 got ripped out decades ago. You’re looking at the winners and calling it the average.
2.) Old components were simpler, and simple fails less. But simple also does less. Nobody wants to give up diagnostics, comms and safety functions to get simplicity back.
3.) A lot of “new kit failing” traces back to installation and environment, not the component. Undersized enclosures, blocked filters, cheap power supplies. The component takes the blame.
And the counter-argument has teeth. Some modern components genuinely are built to a price. Design life is a spec now, not an accident.
So where do you land?
Was old kit genuinely built better? Or does it just look that way because the failures aren’t around to argue?
Best examples either way win the thread.
