TIA Portal: Build a Machine

The TIA Portal course teaches the instructions one module at a time. This course uses all of them on one machine, in the order a commissioning engineer would. It ends with a project you submit rather than only a paper you sit. If you finished the flagship course and wondered what to do with it, this is the answer.

You submit the archived TIA Portal project, the functional description and I/O list, and the completed test record with the failure cases. You also submit the cross-reference finding for a fault you plant on purpose, with a trace screenshot, and a one-page hand-over note. The brief on module 8 lists them, with the marking rubric printed beside it. Submitting is strongly recommended, because the machine is the point of the course. The certificate is issued when you finish the modules and pass the final.

No. Factory I/O has a 30-day trial and makes the line visible, which many people enjoy. But every stage of the machine can be proven in S7-PLCSIM by forcing inputs and watching outputs. The test record is written to be run either way.

No. Siemens publishes a free 21-day trial of TIA Portal with S7-PLCSIM and WinCC Basic included. It needs only a free Siemens account. The course is about fourteen hours of work, so the trial covers it if you install when you start module 2.

An automated reviewer marks it against the printed rubric and gives you the score and comments. The EDWartens team reads submissions too. The project is optional practice. Your certificate depends on the modules and the final assessment, not on the project or its mark.

Yes. Every module, the project brief, the review and the final assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The only paid item is the certificate, and only if you decide you want it.

You get an EDWartens Certificate of Completion for the project course. It is issued when you have finished the modules and passed the final. The project is strongly recommended practice, but not a condition. The certificate has a unique number anyone can verify on our site. It is not a Siemens credential and we will never describe it as one.

No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.

Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.

The TIA Portal: Build a Machine course has 9 modules. It opens with "The Machine, the Spec and the I/O List", goes through "Program Skeleton: Blocks, UDTs and a Tag Table That Scales", "Fill Station: Timers and a Scaled Tank Level", "Inspection and Reject: the Sorter Station" and "Commissioning and Hand-over: Test, Trace, Archive, Protect" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.

After the TIA Portal: Build a Machine course: Write a functional description in numbered steps and an I/O list with addresses, types and normal states before the first rung; Structure a project into station blocks called from OB1, with UDTs and an FB with instance data wherever state must be remembered; Program a motor rung where Stop always wins, with the E-stop and the downstream interlock in series with the seal-in. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.

For the TIA Portal: Build a Machine course, software: The current TIA Portal trial (21 days) with S7-PLCSIM and the WinCC HMI simulator. Factory I/O (30-day trial) is optional and makes the machine visible; every stage can be proven in PLCSIM alone. Hardware: none, everything runs in simulation. The course itself is free.

TIA Portal: Build a Machine is rated intermediate. Intermediate. You have finished the Siemens TIA Portal course, or can already write ladder logic with timers, counters and a function block in TIA Portal. It is written for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation, electrical and instrumentation, and takes about 9.4 hours at your own pace.

Skills from the TIA Portal: Build a Machine course (for example: write a functional description in numbered steps and an I/O list with addresses, types and normal states before the first rung) are used in roles such as PLC programmer, controls engineer, automation technician and commissioning engineer, and in automation engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.