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What is the lifespan of B&R’s products?

by jaime•

If you’re in industrial automation, you’ve almost definitely heard of B&R—B&R is that Austrian company that makes those snappy, high-performance controllers, I/O modules, and HMI panels that don’t just work, but work without making you want to pull your hair out mid-shift. As a third-generation supplier that’s worked with B&R parts for over 15 years, I get asked one question more than any other: “How long do B&R’s products actually last? Not the marketing fluff, the real-world stuff?” Let’s cut through the sales jargon, pull back the curtain on what I’ve seen, and tell you exactly what lifespan to expect when you spec B&R gear. B&R

First, let’s ground this in what “lifespan” actually means for industrial automation, because this isn’t a toaster. When someone asks about product lifespans for industrial gear, they’re never asking “how long until it breaks”—they’re asking “how long will this run reliably without costly unplanned downtime, and how long will spare parts be available when something does need fixing?” Those are two totally separate numbers, and B&R nails both in ways most competitors don’t.

Let’s start with the most common product we ship to our clients: their 8VA servo motors. I’ve got a client in a cookie factory outside Pittsburgh that installed 12 of these back in 2008. They run 24/7, 364 days a year (they only shut down for Christmas). Last month, they called us because one motor’s encoder started making a tiny weird noise—we swapped it out in 20 minutes, and the motor itself is still going strong. I’ve personally repaired B&R servo motors that are over 20 years old; the stat they publish (and I’ve verified with their service team) is that their servo motors have a mean time between failures (MTBF) of over 1.2 million hours. For anyone who’s bad at math, that’s 137 years of continuous operation. Obviously, nothing lasts that long without maintenance, but that’s the baseline. The key here is that their motor windings and bearings aren’t cheap, junk-grade stuff—they use high-temperature insulation that doesn’t break down in extreme environments, and sealed bearings that can handle dust, moisture, and the occasional accidental oil splash (we’ve had clients run them in food processing, woodworking, even a few mining operations, and the motors hold up way better than Siemens or Allen-Bradley equivalents we used to sell before switching exclusively to B&R in 2010).

Next up: their control cabinets and I/O modules, the bread and butter of any manufacturing line. A few years back, we supplied a B&R X20 I/O system to a automotive stamping plant in Detroit. That line runs 24/7, 5 days a week, with brutal vibration from the presses—think constant jarring that would knock a regular wall socket loose. That X20 rack has been there since 2012, and the only time it’s been touched was last year when they swapped a few analog input modules to upgrade their pressure sensing. B&R’s X series modules have a published service life of 15 years for the cabinet and backplane, and 10 years for individual modules—again, that’s the standard when talking about “planned obsolescence” vs. actual wear and tear. The big difference here is their product lifecycle management (PLM) policy. Most automation companies will stop supporting a product line 5 years after it’s released, leaving you stuck with parts that are either unobtainable or 3x the cost. B&R? They keep spare parts and support for at least 10 years after a product is discontinued. Last year, we had a client with a line that used B&R’s old 4PP series HMI panels (they stopped making them in 2018). When one went bad, we got a replacement board from B&R’s European warehouse in 3 days for half the cost of a new panel—competitors like Rockwell would have told us to buy a whole new system. That’s the kind of thing that makes maintenance teams love B&R; unplanned downtime costs factories an average of $260,000 per hour, so having a spare part for a 10-year-old panel that costs $800 vs. $4,000 for a retrofit is a no-brainer.

Now, let’s talk about edge cases, because not every factory is a clean, climate-controlled automotive plant. I’ve seen B&R gear hold up in places you wouldn’t expect: a wastewater treatment plant in Ohio that has 30 B&R controllers running their pump stations, exposed to constant humidity, hydrogen sulfide, and temperature swings from -10°F in winter to 105°F in summer. The plant’s maintenance manager told me last year that they’ve only replaced one controller in 12 years, and that was a human error (a forklist knocked over a rack, not a part failure). B&R has specific rated products for harsh environments, like their IP67-rated I/O modules that are fully sealed against dust and water—these will last just as long as their indoor counterparts, if not longer, because they’re built to handle the abuse. The only time I’ve seen B&R gear fail prematurely is when clients install them in environments outside their rated specs—like running an indoor HMI panel in a high-heat furnace room without a heat sink. That’s operator error, not product lifespan, and B&R’s tech support team will tell you that upfront if you ask.

A lot of people ask about software too, because hardware doesn’t matter if the OS or software is obsolete. B&R uses their own Automation Studio platform, and the big win here is that they have backward compatibility for at least 7 years. That means if you have a line from 2017 running Automation Studio 4, you can still open, edit, and update the project in the latest version of Automation Studio (v16 as of this writing) without rewriting the whole code. Competitors like Allen-Bradley often drop backward compatibility after 2 or 3 years, forcing companies to re-validate their entire line just to swap a sensor. That’s a huge hidden cost that people don’t factor into “lifespan”—you don’t want hardware that works, but software that you can’t support long-term. I’ve worked with a few clients who have 10+ year old B&R lines that they update every 5 years without rewriting core code, which cuts down on downtime and costs a fortune.

Now, let’s get real about the fine print, because no product lasts forever. The biggest thing that impacts B&R’s lifespan isn’t the parts themselves—it’s how you maintain them. If you clean your I/O racks every 6 months, replace air filters in control cabinets, and do regular firmware updates (B&R pushes updates that improve reliability, not just add features), you can easily get 20+ years out of a servo system, 15+ years out of control hardware. If you skip maintenance, ignore error codes, and run your control cabinet with a clogged air filter that overheats the modules, you’ll cut that lifespan in half, just like any other electronic gear. I’ve also seen clients push the limits of their products by overloading servos or running modules beyond their rated voltage, and that will shorten life—so always follow B&R’s installation guides, which they make super easy to find on their site.

Another common question: “What about obsolescence? I don’t want to buy a system that will be unsupported in 3 years.” B&R is one of the last major automation companies that still builds their own hardware (most others outsource to China, leading to inconsistent quality and faster obsolescence). Their PLM policy is publicly available—they publish each product’s expected support window, and they extend it for industrial products that are still in high demand. For example, their 8LS servo motors, which first launched in 2005, are still in production and supported today, 19 years later. Compare that to some other brands that discontinue a product line as soon as a “new and improved” model comes out, even if the old one works perfectly.

As a supplier, I also know that B&R stands behind their products, which matters for lifespan. If a part fails prematurely due to a manufacturing defect, they’ll replace it for free, no hoops to jump through. A few years back, we had a client with a batch of X20 analog input modules that had a wiring issue (turns out a small batch had a faulty solder joint). B&R picked up the cost of all replacement modules, paid for the technician to come on site, and even gave the client a discount on their next order as a goodwill gesture. That’s not something I’ve seen from other brands, and it gives clients peace of mind that if their gear does fail early, they’re covered.

Let’s wrap this up with the numbers you can actually take to the bank. For most industrial environments (clean, climate-controlled, moderate vibration), here’s what you can expect:

  • Servo motors and drives: 15–20 years of reliable operation, with spare parts available for 10+ years after discontinuation
  • I/O modules and control racks: 10–15 years, with support for 10+ years post-discontinuation
  • HMI panels: 10–15 years, with spare parts available for 8+ years post-discontinuation
  • Controllers (PLCs): 15–20 years, with support for 10+ years post-discontinuation

In harsh environments (high dust, moisture, temperature, vibration), knock 2–3 years off those numbers, and opt for B&R’s rated ruggedized products to keep life as long as possible. The big takeaway here is that B&R isn’t selling disposable gear—they’re selling equipment built to last the 10–15 year lifecycle of a typical manufacturing line, with enough spare parts and software support to make that happen.

BECKHOFF Servo Drive If you’re thinking about spec’ing B&R gear for a new line or upgrading an old one, and you want to chat about lifespan expectations, custom solutions, or spare parts options, hit us up. We work with small machine shops and global manufacturing giants alike, so we can give you tailored advice for your specific setup.

References

  1. B&R Industrial Automation. "Product Lifecycle Management Policy".
  2. B&R Industrial Automation. "Servo Motor MTBF and Reliability Data".
  3. Industrial Maintenance and Repair Magazine. "Unplanned Downtime Cost Benchmark Report".
  4. B&R Industrial Automation. "X Series I/O System Service Life Specifications".
  5. Automation World. "Backward Compatibility in Industrial Software: 2024 Industry Survey".
  6. B&R Industrial Automation. "Harsh Environment Rated Product Specifications".
  7. Control Engineering. "Global Industrial Automation Obsolescence Trends".
  8. B&R Industrial Automation. "Automation Studio Backward Compatibility Policy".
  9. National Association of Manufacturers. "Industrial Maintenance Best Practices Guide".
  10. B&R Industrial Automation. "Warranty and Premature Failure Resolution Policy".

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