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Rockwell FactoryTalk alarm text messages through email

A FactoryTalk alarm text message reaches the maintenance tech on call once the alarm email goes to your Welco address. When a line stops on third shift, the text names the line, the fault and the time. Approve the From address in Welco, and your FactoryTalk project doesn't change.

Text me my FactoryTalk alarmsBook a demo

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  • No change to the FactoryTalk project
  • Nothing installed on the HMI
  • No per-user fees

Setup guide for

  • FactoryTalk

Published:

A Rockwell FactoryTalk HMI screen with a Packaging process mimic and an alarm summary: the row Line3_Conveyor_Jam, LINE 3 INFEED CONVEYOR JAM, appears InAlarm, Unack with priority 750 above two acknowledged alarms. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Line 3] Infeed conveyor JAM, unacked at 1:09 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Rockwell FactoryTalk alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [Line 3] Infeed conveyor JAM, unacked at 1:09 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What the on-call tech gets from FactoryTalk texts

  • Line, machine and fault at a glance

    The text reads Line 3 infeed conveyor jam. The area path, severity number and server name stay in the email.

  • The right trade gets the call

    Words in the alarm pick the phone. Drive faults reach the electrician, and air or hydraulic alarms reach the mechanic.

  • The controls network stays closed

    Welco never touches FactoryTalk, a PLC or the plant network. It reads the alarm email after your mail server sends it out.

  • A line stop is a few texts, not fifty

    When every downstream station alarms at once, flood limits keep the phone readable while the HMI keeps the full list.

FactoryTalk alarms and how they reach email

Any system that can send an email works with Welco's SCADA alarm texting. Here's how to set up Rockwell FactoryTalk.

FactoryTalk is Rockwell's family of plant software, including the HMI screens manufacturing crews use to run lines. Its alarms usually start in a PLC (the controller that runs a machine or a line). Plants send them to email through a script, a reporting tool, an alarm notifier or a small service an integrator wrote.

  • Does a FactoryTalk alarm email exist today? If not, your controls integrator can add one.
  • A Welco account with your plant verified. Start free to make one.
  • The techs and supervisors on call, each joined from a Welco invite on their own phone with a YES reply.

Send a FactoryTalk alarm text message in 5 steps

Look for the email or SMTP notification settings in FactoryTalk, or in the tool your plant uses to email alarms. A controls tech can usually finish in half an hour.

  1. Trace one alarm email back to its sender

    Open a recent alarm email. The From address and the layout tell you which script or tool sent it.

  2. Approve that address in Welco

    Add the From address to the senders that may text your techs. Welco refuses mail from addresses you haven't approved.

  3. Add your Welco address to the recipients

    In that tool's email settings, add your Welco address. Keep the maintenance mailbox too, so the full alarm stays on record.

  4. Pick the alarms that should text

    Send only high-severity alarms, or only lines that run overnight. If the tool can't filter, use a Welco alarm rule on the area or severity.

  5. Raise a test alarm

    Force a safe test alarm on an idle line and check the phone. Welco's test mode lets you check the result without sending a text.

Put line alarms on the on-call tech's phone

Add your Welco address to the FactoryTalk alarm email and verify your plant.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my FactoryTalk alarmsBook a demo

Sample palletizer fault, email and text

Alarm emails list the area path, the severity number and the server. The tech needs the machine, the fault and the time.

Alert email from ft-alarms@plant.example.com, subject “Alarm In: Line2_Palletizer_Fault”. Welco trims it to one text of 97 characters: “Welco: [Line 2] Palletizer layer former FAULT, e-stop active at 4:41 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Line 2] Palletizer layer former FAULT, e-stop active at 4:41 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters237971 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alarm In: Line2_Palletizer_Fault" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Line 2] Palletizer layer former FAULT, e-stop active at 4:41 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

The examples here are samples, not FactoryTalk's exact layout. A one-text alert rule fits whatever your email says.

Tips for plant floor texts

A text that wakes a tech should mean a line is down or about to be.

  • Text by shift

    With on-call routing, third-shift alarms go to the on-call tech and day alarms go to the area supervisor.

  • Weekend shutdowns

    When the plant is down for the weekend, utilities still matter. Keep texts on for compressors, chillers and boilers, and pause line alarms with a time-based rule.

  • One fault, not fifty

    A line stop is one of the classic causes of alarm floods. Alarm flood control caps the texts each phone gets during the burst.

  • Supervisor copy for e-stops

    Send e-stop and safety circuit alarms to the on-call tech and the shift supervisor together. Each phone gets one copy.

When a FactoryTalk text doesn't arrive

Work from the plant to the phone.

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Frequently asked questions

Can a PLC fault send a text without the HMI?

Only if something turns it into an email. Some plants have a gateway or a small service that watches PLC tags and emails on a fault. If you have one, point it at Welco. See PLC alarm texts for the ways plants get controller alarms to email.

Does Welco need access to our controls network?

No. Welco never connects to FactoryTalk, your PLCs or your plant network. It only receives the alarm email after your mail server sends it out. Plant IT keeps the controls network closed, and nothing is installed on the HMI or server.

Can maintenance reply to say they're on the way?

Yes. A reply to a Welco text comes back as an email to the address that sent the alarm. If that's a no-reply mailbox, set it to forward to the maintenance inbox. A reply is a note to people, not an acknowledgement in FactoryTalk.

Do techs need a FactoryTalk app on their phone?

No. The alarm is a normal text in the phone's messages app, so any mobile that takes texts works. Techs don't need a plant login or remote access to read it. They still go to the HMI to reset the fault.

Which FactoryTalk alarms are worth a text at night?

Start with alarms that stop a line or risk damage: drive faults, e-stops, loss of air pressure, high motor temperature and freezer or boiler trips. Leave quality warnings and operator prompts on the HMI. After a week, look at the Welco feed and drop any alarm nobody acted on.

We already use WIN-911 with FactoryTalk. Do we drop it?

Not unless you want to. WIN-911 can keep its voice callouts and acknowledgements, and send its alarm email to Welco for the texts. The WIN-911 alarm email page shows that setup.

How much do FactoryTalk alarm texts cost?

There are no per-user fees with Welco, so every tech on the call list can join. There's no hardware and no setup fee either. You pay for the message credits your alarms use on each phone, and trimming keeps most alarms to one credit. See the pricing page.

Text the next line-down alarm to whoever is on call

Add your Welco address to the FactoryTalk alarm email and test it on an idle line.

Text me my FactoryTalk alarmsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing