I would like to offer my view on the topic of automation platforms, as seen from the trenches on both sides of the decision.
I worked for 20 years as a Journeyman electrician on shift in several different industries. Working on instrumentation and controls more than construction. I spent most of those years answering breakdown calls on production equipment. Currently I am involved in Sales Engineering with Advance Products, Inc., manufacturers of case and carton handling automation solutions. As a "salesman" I embrace the ability to offer an end user customer the controls equipment they specify. Yet working closely with the Designers, fabricators and programming staff at Advance Products, I see first hand the added expense of constantly changing platforms. It brings lost production time, added procurement costs, and increased labor costs, which are either passed along in equipment price (not good from the salesman's point of view) or absorbed by the equipment manufacturer.
