Industrial Communication and Plant Network Infrastructure
Network infrastructure and industrial switch installations that keep in-plant data flowing without interruption.
On a modern production line, PLCs, drives, HMIs, cameras and instruments all talk over the same network. Building that network with office network thinking is a common mistake: a few hundred milliseconds of latency goes unnoticed in an office but stops the line in a motion control application. Contech builds industrial communication infrastructure around the real-time requirements of the protocol.
The infrastructure is planned by first establishing which protocols will be used. Profinet, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and Profibus carry different topology and timing requirements; where they will share the same physical network, segmentation and VLAN arrangement follow from that. Bandwidth-hungry traffic such as camera video or file transfer is kept off segments carrying real-time traffic. Switch selection is not made from office products. An industrial switch offers a wide temperature range, DIN rail mounting, redundant 24 V supply and a vibration-resistant body; managed models additionally carry protocol-specific prioritisation and ring topology support. Ring topology is preferred on critical lines: if a cable breaks, traffic continues to flow the other way round and the line does not stop. On the cabling side, the physical layer is the most commonly overlooked subject. Cable category, connector type and segment lengths comply with the standard; using unscreened cable in an industrial environment leads to intermittent communication errors caused by electromagnetic noise from drives. Over long distances and between separate buildings, fibre is preferred; fibre also provides electrical isolation and removes problems caused by potential differences. Network topology and the IP address plan are documented. Which device sits at which address, which switch port it connects to and which VLAN it belongs to are all recorded; without that document, the time lost during a communication fault is unpredictable. After installation, line testing is carried out: cable certification, latency and packet loss measurement and redundancy testing on ring topologies, with the results reported.
- Segmentation and VLAN plan driven by protocol requirements (Profinet, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP).
- Real-time traffic kept separate from bandwidth-hungry traffic.
- Industrial switches: wide temperature range, DIN rail, redundant 24 V supply.
- Ring topology on critical lines, so a cable break does not stop the line.
- Standards-compliant cable category, connectors and segment lengths; screened cable.
- Fibre over long distances and between buildings, with electrical isolation as a benefit.
- Topology and IP address plan documented, with port and VLAN records.
- Fieldbus and network infrastructure for a new production line
- Correcting an existing network suffering intermittent communication faults
- Fibre backbone installation between buildings
- Migrating critical lines to ring topology for redundancy
Can we not use an office switch?
You can, but it is not advisable. Office switches are not designed for in-panel temperature, vibration or 24 V supply, and they do not support the prioritisation and ring redundancy real-time protocols require. The failure usually surfaces during the busiest production period.
Our communication drops intermittently — what could cause it?
The most common causes are unscreened or wrong-category cable, data cable pulled on the same tray as power cable, non-standard segment lengths and the use of office-grade switches. A site survey and line measurement identify the source.
Why does network documentation matter?
Most of the time lost during a communication fault goes into finding which device sits where. Topology, IP plan and port records reduce that to minutes.
Related Services
All ServicesLet's discuss your project
Tell us what you need. We will assess the site conditions together and propose a solution built for you.