hexis PLC Consulting | PLC to Microcontroller

Controls consulting first. Conversion when it earns its place.

hexis PLC is a Hexis consulting engagement, not a downloadable gimmick. We sit with plant and controls people, map what the machine must do, and only then convert PLC programs onto universal microcontroller hardware such as ESP32 and Arduino-class boards.

Some plants need a full cutover. Others need a pilot cell, a spare strategy, or an honest no when the right move is still a stock PLC. That is consulting: judgment, scope, and delivery.

After conversion, your control program is normal source code. You can extend it with AI coding tools, keep it in git, run reviews and tests, and change the machine the way modern software is changed.

NETWORK 1LD I0.0 // Start PBA I0.1 // Guard OKO M10.0 // Seal-inAN I0.2 // E-stopOUT Q0.0 // Motor runOUT M10.0 NETWORK 2LD Q0.0TON T1, 5s // Run delayLD T1OUT Q0.1 // Aux contact

// portable MCU runtimebool start = dig_in(0);bool guard = dig_in(1);bool estop = dig_in(2);static bool seal = false; seal = (start && guard) || seal;bool run = seal && !estop;dig_out(0, run); if (run && timer_done(T1)) dig_out(1, true); // aux// runs on open hardware

Ladder or flowchart. Same machine. Same source.

hexis PLC gives operators a logic workspace that feels like the tools they already use: classic ladder rungs, or flowchart logic in a Mermaid-style UML shape (boxes, decisions, arrows). Maintain online. Generate new interlocks. Switch views without rewriting the program twice.

Under both views: portable microcontroller code, git, and modern reviews. Pick the diagram language that fits the person at the terminal.

▸ Ladder for seal-ins, forces, and floor-native troubleshooting

▸ Flowchart / UML-style for sequence and branching logic

▸ Generate new nodes or rungs with AI, under human review

▸ One program maps to open hardware runtime + version control

hexis PLC is Hexis controls consulting with a clear technical product underneath: convert PLC programs into microcontroller code that runs on universal, non-proprietary hardware. We engage as practitioners, not as a catalog of modules.

Consulting, not a black-box tool sale

Most plants do not need a motivational speech about open source. They need someone who has lived in ladder logic, I/O lists, and start-up pressure. Our consulting work starts with the machine, the program, the spare parts reality, and the people who keep the line running.

Conversion is one outcome of that work. Sometimes the right recommendation is a limited pilot. Sometimes it is leave the PLC alone and fix process around it. We will say so.

On-site or remote controls assessment
Program and hardware risk review
Architecture for open microcontroller targets
Implementation, commissioning, and handoff

The conversion capability

When conversion is the right move, hexis PLC takes existing PLC programs (ladder, instruction list, structured text, and crusty dialects) and produces microcontroller code for open hardware. Brands we see in the wild include Siemens, Allen-Bradley and Rockwell, Mitsubishi, Omron, Yaskawa, Schneider and Modicon, GE Fanuc, Beckhoff, ABB, and long-tail legacy gear.

Same control intent. Hardware you can buy, stock, and replace without living inside one vendor catalog forever.

PLC source in, microcontroller code out
Universal, non-proprietary hardware targets
Yaskawa, Siemens, Rockwell, and obscure lines when source is available
Validation and cutover planning built into the engagement

Ladder or flowchart. Source underneath.

hexis PLC keeps logic views that feel normal to people who run machines: classic ladder (rungs, contacts, coils, timers) and flowchart logic in a Mermaid-style UML shape (process boxes, decision diamonds, arrows). Online-style status for maintenance. Generate new interlocks in either view.

Switch views without maintaining two programs. Behind both, the same change is portable microcontroller code in git, with reviews and tests when the plant wants software discipline.

Ladder for floor-native troubleshooting and force/trace work
Flowchart / UML-style for sequences and branching
Generate rungs or nodes with AI under human review
Synced to open hardware runtime and version-controlled source

Then you get a real software workflow

Once control lives as ordinary source code, you are no longer stuck in a proprietary project file with no history and no review path. New features can be written with modern AI coding tools, reviewed by people who understand the machine, and merged the same way serious software is shipped.

Git version control, branches, pull requests, tests, and continuous integration stop being aspirational slides. They become how the plant changes the program. That is how you add a mode, fix a bug, or document a change without praying the last backup USB still works.

Write and extend logic with AI coding tools, under human review
Git history, branches, and code review instead of opaque project files
Tests, CI, and modern tooling that software teams already know
Faster, safer change for a living machine, not a frozen black box

Why plants hire Hexis for this

Proprietary PLC hardware works until spares dry up, licenses change, or the only tech who speaks the dialect retires. Converting proven logic onto portable microcontrollers keeps the machine knowledge and drops the lock-in.

Open hardware is also easier to instrument for shop-floor AI, vision, and private inference. Once control is not sealed in a black-box CPU, data and intelligence have a cleaner path. Related plant work often includes custom manufacturing quoting and process mapping with Process Builder.

Next step

If you want controls consulting that moves PLC logic onto hardware you own, keeps operators in ladder or flowchart for maintenance and new logic, and still gives you git and modern software tools underneath, start a conversation. See also AI on the shop floor.