Siemens CIS_CK Library: Procurement and Migration Path

Siemens CIS_CK Library: Procurement, Ownership, and Migration Path

The CIS_CK library is a legacy Siemens automation function-block (FB) collection originally developed for metals-industry process cells — continuous casting, ladle tracking, and rolling-mill sequencing. The library predates TIA Portal and was historically distributed alongside SIMATIC S7-300 / S7-400 and PCS 7 V7.x installations. Because the library was authored before the SIMATIC Industry Library and the PCS 7 Advanced Process Library (APL) became the supported standard platforms, its FBs and functions are documented in a project-specific readme rather than in a publicly maintained Siemens manual set.

As of the corporate divestment that separated Siemens' metals-rolling business, the library is no longer available through any Siemens sales channel. The intellectual property, distribution rights, and support obligation now sit with Primetals Technologies, with primary R&D operations in Germany. This article documents the procurement route, the ownership background, the supported migration paths to current Siemens libraries, and the field-proven caveats engineers must observe when working with the library on legacy or refurbished equipment.

Ownership History and Distribution Rights

Siemens AG divested its metals-rolling and continuous-casting technology business, transferring a portfolio of domain-specific software assets — including the CIS_CK library — to Primetals Technologies. Primetals is headquartered in London but runs its metals-automation R&D from sites in Germany (Erlangen and the surrounding region). With the transfer came three operational realities for end users:

1. The library is not published on the Siemens Industry Online Support (SIOS) portal, the Siemens download server, or any Siemens FTP mirror.
2. Siemens sales representatives, regional offices, and authorised distributors cannot quote, supply, or support the library. All such requests are explicitly routed back to Primetals.
3. The library is not bundled with current PCS 7, TIA Portal, or STEP 7 media. It must be licensed and supplied separately, with its own licence document.

This ownership structure is consistent with how Siemens has handled other legacy industrial-software packages when product lines are spun off. From a project-management perspective, the implication is that any maintenance contract, hardware-refresh project, or spare-parts order that depends on CIS_CK must be opened with Primetals as a parallel workstream — independent of any ongoing Siemens support contract.

Why Siemens No Longer Distributes CIS_CK

Three structural reasons drive the divestment and explain the lack of a Siemens download path:

• Domain specificity. CIS_CK was engineered for steelmaking and continuous-casting applications. Outside that domain, the FBs duplicate functionality already present in the SIMATIC Industry Library and the PCS 7 Advanced Process Library, making continued cross-portfolio support an inefficient use of Siemens general-purpose engineering resources.
• Maintenance cost across firmware generations. Legacy libraries require maintenance across multiple SIMATIC firmware generations and TIA Portal major versions. Siemens standardised on APL and the Industry Library as the supported long-term platforms. CIS_CK, with no internal maintainer inside Siemens, would have rotted silently.
• Corporate restructuring. The transfer to Primetals closed a portfolio gap. Primetals can monetise the library against a smaller, focused customer base that still requires drop-in compatibility with installed equipment.

Procurement Procedure via Primetals Technologies

Procurement follows a direct-contact model rather than the standard Siemens quotation workflow. The procedure below reflects typical engagement flow; exact form-field labels may change as Primetals updates its customer portal.

1. Open a support request through the Primetals Technologies web contact form, identifying the library explicitly as CIS_CK and providing the project name, end-customer name, and equipment serial numbers.
2. Provide proof of entitlement (original Siemens purchase order, project handover documentation, plant asset register entries, or equipment serial plates) so Primetals can validate the licence lineage.
3. Request the current library version, the accompanying readme (which lists all FBs and functions in the package), and any release notes for the most recent fix pack.
4. Receive a quotation and licence document from Primetals R&D Germany. The licence may be per-AS, per-project, or per-site; confirm scope before signing.
5. Receive the library archive (typically as a STEP 7 V5.x source archive plus a TIA Portal port where applicable), the readme, and any licence keys. Some engagements deliver on physical media for plants with air-gapped engineering networks.

Expected turnaround on a first enquiry is typically two to four weeks, depending on entitlement verification and export-control review for non-EU destinations. For existing Primetals customers with active service contracts, the library may already be available through the customer portal without a new purchase order.

Library Composition

CIS_CK ships as a collection of FBs and functions. The library does not follow the PCS 7 APL block-icon convention; blocks are exposed as standard SIMATIC S7 FBs with English / German comment headers, and the documentation lives in the readme PDF supplied with each release. The exact block list is version-dependent and only fully documented in that readme. Typical categories observed in installed bases include:

Engineers must treat the readme as the authoritative source for in/out parameter lists, instance-DB layouts, and any platform restrictions (S7-300 vs S7-400, classic STEP 7 vs TIA Portal). Do not rely on memory or on third-party block listings — Primetals occasionally renumbers FBs between maintenance releases.

Migration to the SIMATIC Industry Library

For projects where CIS_CK is being maintained but no new licence can be obtained — for example, end-of-life plants where the operator wants to consolidate to a current Siemens-supported library — the SIMATIC Industry Library is the officially supported replacement. The Industry Library provides standardised, version-controlled FBs for motor, valve, analogue-value processing, and PID control, all of which cover most of the use cases CIS_CK addressed in its original release.

Three-phase Migration Plan

1. Inventory. Extract every CIS_CK block call from the existing STEP 7 / TIA project, including multi-instance usage, background-DB references, and any custom wrappers. A simple AWL/ST source grep for the library name is the most reliable extraction method.
2. Mapping. For each CIS_CK block, identify the Industry Library equivalent using the library's block-list documentation. Record input/output rewiring, any new instance-DB requirements, and any auxiliary blocks (for example, a separate alarm FB) that the Industry Library expects the calling code to instantiate.
3. Replacement and cutover. Swap the block calls in a side-branch of the project, compile against the target firmware, and validate behaviour against the existing system on a test AS before cutover. Keep the old CIS_CK blocks in the project as commented-out references for the duration of the parallel-running period so that the rollback path remains open.

Block-Mapping Example (Indicative)

The exact mapping depends on the CIS_CK version installed. The table below shows representative categories; verify against the readme for the actual installed version.

Where the original CIS_CK block implements domain-specific logic that the Industry Library does not cover — typically the continuous-casting strand-sequencing blocks — the correct approach is to retain the original logic as a custom FB rather than force-fit it into a generic library. These custom FBs can then live alongside the Industry Library blocks in the same project.

Alternative: PCS 7 Advanced Process Library via DCS Library Services

For greenfield PCS 7 deployments that need modern, Siemens-supported process-control blocks, the Advanced Process Library (APL) is the reference platform. APL block icons, instance-DB conventions, and alarm-handling patterns are the current standard inside PCS 7 V9 SPx and newer.

Siemens offers a "DCS Library Services" engagement that covers analysis, exchange, upgrade, and ongoing support of DCS libraries built on APL. The DCS Library Services presentation describes the service scope as covering both analysis and exchange (AS/OS) of existing DCS libraries on APL. From a CIS_CK migration standpoint, this service is most relevant when the receiving system already runs PCS 7 V9 SPx or newer and the migration budget permits a structured rollout.

Engineers should request the DCS Library Services brochure from Siemens sales to confirm the current scope, regional availability, and pricing for their specific plant. Expect a fixed-scope analysis engagement before any code exchange work begins.

Compatibility and Firmware Constraints

CIS_CK has been observed in installed bases on the following platforms:

• SIMATIC S7-400 with STEP 7 V5.5 / V5.6
• SIMATIC S7-300 with STEP 7 V5.4 / V5.5
• PCS 7 V7.x / V8.x with classic WinCC operator stations
• Classic STEP 7 projects later partially ported to TIA Portal V13 / V14

It is not certified for:

• TIA Portal V17 or newer (compatibility is sometimes achievable after regeneration but is neither Siemens- nor Primetals-supported)
• SIMATIC S7-1200 / S7-1500 standard firmware (some blocks can be ported manually, but the readme does not document it)
• Open-controller (ET 200SP CPU) platforms without prior regeneration testing
• WinCC Unified HMI without significant faceplate rework

Installation and Integration Procedure

After obtaining the library from Primetals, follow the procedure below to integrate it into a STEP 7 / TIA Portal project. The exact menu paths vary by toolchain version; the steps below describe the classic STEP 7 V5.x flow, which remains the most common on installed equipment.

1. Extract the supplied archive to a directory that the STEP 7 project library manager can read (a UNC path shared from the engineering server is typical).
2. Open the STEP 7 project in SIMATIC Manager and choose Options > Library to open the library manager.
3. File > Open and navigate to the supplied CIS_CK library archive. The blocks appear in the right-hand pane.
4. Drag the required FBs into the Blocks container of the S7 program in the target project. STEP 7 prompts for overwriting any existing block with the same number — verify the target FC/FB numbers are free before confirming.
5. For each inserted FB, open its instance-DB and re-assign the actual process tags. The readme specifies the symbolic I/O names; map them to your project's tag table.
6. Compile the S7 program. Address any warnings about missing UDTs or referenced blocks from companion libraries before downloading to the AS.
7. Download to a test AS first. Force inputs to confirm the FB responds as documented before commissioning on the live plant.

For TIA Portal, the procedure is similar but the library is opened as a global library rather than a STEP 7 program library. Master-copy folders replace the drag-and-drop model.

Verification Checklist

Run through the following checks before integrating CIS_CK into a live project:

1. Confirm the supplied library version matches the version originally installed on the equipment, or identify the closest compatible version if exact-match is unavailable.
2. Open the readme and verify that all expected FBs and functions are present in the supplied archive.
3. Compile the library against the project's STEP 7 / TIA Portal version and resolve any block-consistency warnings.
4. Open one of the supplied example projects (if provided) and download it to a test AS to validate firmware compatibility.
5. Cross-check the licence document against the number of AS instances the library will be installed on; some licences are per-AS, others are per-project.
6. Archive the library, readme, and licence document in the project's version-control system with a SHA-256 hash for future auditability.
7. Document the procurement contact and licence chain in the plant's asset register so that future engineers do not waste cycles re-discovering the ownership transfer.

Field-Proven Caveats

Three caveats surface repeatedly in field experience with CIS_CK installations:

• Comment-language drift. Some block comments were originally German and have not been fully translated; English-speaking engineers must read German comments or rely on translated readme appendices. Plan translation time into any handover documentation.
• Hidden dependencies. A small number of CIS_CK FBs call into blocks from other legacy Siemens libraries (often UDTs and FCs from older process-control packages). If those companion libraries are also out of distribution, the project will not compile cleanly even after CIS_CK is restored. Audit the cross-block references before declaring the procurement successful.
• Time-stamp licensing. Older library versions include licence keys with fixed expiry dates. Confirm the supplied version's licence is current or perpetual before integrating it into a long-running production line. Perpetual licences are available from Primetals but typically cost more than time-bound ones.

Risk Matrix

Long-Term Support Considerations

Even with Primetals distribution restored, CIS_CK is a legacy library by any reasonable definition. The strategic question for plant owners is not "how do I get CIS_CK" but "should I keep relying on CIS_CK". Three factors drive the answer:

• Hardware lifecycle. If the plant AS is S7-300 or S7-400 with a hardware-refresh horizon beyond five years, the CIS_CK maintenance window will close before the hardware does. Plan a staged migration.
• Skills availability. Engineers familiar with classic STEP 7 V5.x and the CIS_CK block conventions are a shrinking pool. New hires are trained on TIA Portal and APL. Migration reduces the bus-factor risk on legacy code.
• Cybersecurity posture. Legacy libraries may lack the authentication, signing, and audit-trail features that current Siemens libraries implement. For plants subject to IEC 62443, migration is not optional.

For new plants, specify the SIMATIC Industry Library (or APL for PCS 7 deployments) from the outset. For existing plants, run the inventory and mapping exercise above and budget the migration across two or three maintenance turnarounds.

Frequently Asked Questions