on my opinion, if you've got some computer skills, such as can operate win98 or winnt.it is not a difficult thing for an industrial electrician to master the PLC.
if you want to learn PLC, I think that to learn AB's slc-500 is a good choice.since there are so many kinds of PLC, we don't need to learn all of them, we just need to learn one of them, once you know the theory of it, all of others are the same.
it is appreciated that anyone have other good suggestion for learning PLC

Stanley
Although I agree an electrician with computer skills can begin to understand how to program a PLC you will be a long way from mastering them. I have been working for 10+ years with them and there is still lots more to learn. Sure in a few hours you can understand the basics, but try getting involved in speed regulation and following, PID loops, communication networks, and the like and you will be humbled quickly. A PLC today is much more than a relay replacer. With that said I still encourage electricians to learn them if you took a class a few years ago the principles are the same but much of what you learned is obsolete. Keep up to date, most companies that sell PLCs are more than willing to get you started.

Stanley:

Check out these sites.
www.thelearningpit.com www.plcs.net

I work for a plc company ( www.automationdirect.com ) where I do tech support for VFD's and starters.

Understanding PLC's and how they interface with drives and motor control systems is the majority of my call load.

When someone is learning plc's, I always recommend getting one and either a handheld or the software to try them out. It's the best way to learn.

I have seen quite a few in-expensive plc's on ebay, including some cool training courses.

Don't worry guys....I'm not in sales. I just answer the phone:) It sure beats the steel mills. And Georgia is a lot warmer than Chicago...

Thanks,
Carl

Stanley
Thats a good point all the schooling is great but until you actually work with one put in the program and debug it, its all window dressing.
The small SMCCs are nice to learn on, but logic programming is alot more involved than just ladder logic. the smaller ones are merely 'relay replacers' and have some nice features such as a timing functions.
I worked on a job involving an ' Air-Knife ' whicch used both plc's and pcs and they had to work in conjunction with each other. We had to get Reliance Electric involved, and their Servo motors and some major DC drives were incorporated too..
And when all was said and done there were a couple Thousand pages of software involved with job.
But the basic getting into it can be done with a small hand-held unit. But what I dont like is GEs software is different from say A&B. Even the terminology is unique to AB.
-Mark_