A bright future for PLCs

According to the many articles I read, the future of PLCs is bright indeed. The following is taken
from a June 2008 article published on the Engineering Talk website by the Arc Advisory Group. The Arc
Advisory Group is the leading research and advisory firm for manufacturing, energy, and supply chain
solutions. PLCs, which are used across all major discrete and process industries, will continue to
experience growth as robust, emerging economies create buoyant demand for increasing
automation. While a cooling off period is expected, automation demand is expected to continue to
grow during the forecast period. The market is demanding the programmable automation controller
(PAC), a multi-disciplined controller capable of providing real-time logic, motion and process control,
in addition to HMI and other functions, on a single platform. Major automation suppliers have
extended PLC functions beyond just logic, especially in higher end models. The PLC-based PAC market
growth is expected to be higher than the overall PLC market growth. This growth will be driven by the
logical extension of PLC functionality to a multi-disciplinary platform. ARC predicts that most of the
small and large PLCs of today, as well as some of the micro PLCs, will morph into PACs, and the pure
PLCs will remain at the Nano and some of the micro level. PLC applications cut across discrete,
process and hybrid automation segments, and are poised for steady growth across all
manufacturing. Manufacturing companies, acutely aware of the need for more automation, and for
both producing and saving energy to cope with rapidly rising energy demands and costs globally, are
increasingly using PLCs.[3]


Conclusion


In writing this paper I have discovered that we have only begun to tap into the many possible uses
of PLCs. I believe it is only a matter of putting our imaginations to work and we may find many as yet
unforeseen uses for PLCs.





References





[1]Dane E. Gilkey, (2011, April 6), EET 331 Programmable Logic Controllers, LogixPro Relay Logic
Introductory Lab.



[2] Text Book by Frank D. Petruzella, Programmable Logic Controllers, 4
th
Edition, Published by
McGraw-Hill, 2005.


[ 3 ] Engi neer i ngt a l k , I ni t i a l s . ( 2008 , J une 12 ) . The f ut ur e f or pr ogr amma bl e
l o g i c c o nt r o l l er s . Ret r i ev ed f r o m
ht t p: / /www. engi neer i ngt a l k . co m/ news /a r b/ ar b201 . ht ml



[ 4 ] Ga r y Al t uni a n, I ni t i a l s . ( 2 011 ) . I s pl c t ec hnol o gy t he f ut ur e o f mul t i r oo m
a udi o ? . Ret r i ev ed f r o m
ht t p: / /s t er eo s . a bo ut . c om/o d/a dv a nceds t er eot o pi c s /a/ h o mepl ug . ht m