A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that requires high reliability, ease of programming, and process fault diagnosis.
Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related areas of metrology, automation, and control theory. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making.
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines. Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices, and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes, and ships typically use combinations of all of these techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, reducing waste, savings in electricity costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision.
A distributed control system (DCS) is a computerized control system for a process or plant usually with many control loops, in which autonomous controllers are distributed throughout the system, but there is no central operator supervisory control. This is in contrast to systems that use centralized controllers; either discrete controllers located at a central control room or within a central computer. The DCS concept increases reliability and reduces installation costs by localizing control functions near the process plant, with remote monitoring and supervision.
Industrial process control (IPC) or simply process control is a system used in modern manufacturing which uses the principles of control theory and physical industrial control systems to monitor, control and optimize continuous industrial production processes using control algorithms. This ensures that the industrial machines run smoothly and safely in factories and efficiently use energy to transform raw materials into high-quality finished products with reliable consistency while reducing energy waste and economic costs, something which could not be achieved purely by human manual control.
Invensys Limited was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. At its height, the company had offices in more than 50 countries and its products were sold in around 180 countries.
Yokogawa Electric Corporation is a Japanese multinational electrical engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement, control, and information technologies.
General Electric Automation and Controls division combines what was formerly known as GE Intelligent Platforms and Alstom's Power Automation and Controls. In 2019, GE Intelligent Platforms was acquired by Emerson Electric and is now part of Emerson's Discrete Automation business unit.
Power-system automation is the act of automatically controlling the power system via instrumentation and control devices. Substation automation refers to using data from Intelligent electronic devices (IED), control and automation capabilities within the substation, and control commands from remote users to control power-system devices.
Safetran Systems Corporation was an American company that manufactured switch machines, railroad wayside signal systems, rail transit signaling and rail-highway level crossing active warning systems.
Wonderware was a brand of industrial software now owned by Aveva and rebranded under the AVEVA name. Wonderware was part of Invensys plc, and Invensys plc was acquired in January 2014 by Schneider Electric. Invensys plc. was formed in 1999 by the merger of BTR plc and Siebe plc, and Wonderware was acquired by Siebe plc in 1998.
Richard E. Morley was an American inventor who was considered one of the "fathers" of the programmable logic controller (PLC) since he was involved with the production of the first PLC for General Motors, the Modicon, at Bedford and Associates in 1968. The Modicon brand of PLC is now owned by Schneider Electric. The PLC has been recognized as a significant advancement in the practice of automation, and has an important influence on manufacturing.
An industrial control system (ICS) is an electronic control system and associated instrumentation used for industrial process control. Control systems can range in size from a few modular panel-mounted controllers to large interconnected and interactive distributed control systems (DCSs) with many thousands of field connections. Control systems receive data from remote sensors measuring process variables (PVs), compare the collected data with desired setpoints (SPs), and derive command functions that are used to control a process through the final control elements (FCEs), such as control valves.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automation:
Triconex is a Schneider Electric brand that supplies products, systems, and services for safety, critical control, and turbo-machinery applications. Triconex also use its name for its hardware devices that use its TriStation application software. Triconex products are based on patented Triple modular redundancy (TMR) industrial safety-shutdown technology. Today, Triconex TMR products operate globally in more than 11,500 installations.
Siebe plc became the name of the new conglomerate formed when Siebe Gorman began taking over other firms in the early 1970s, to distinguish it from Siebe Gorman's original breathing apparatus and diving gear core business. Siebe plc was once one of the United Kingdom's largest engineering businesses and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1999 it merged with BTR plc to form Invensys.
TAC is a Swedish-based building automation company in the fields of both energy and security. It also operates in other countries including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are computerized systems used in manufacturing to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES provides information that helps manufacturing decision-makers understand how current conditions on the plant floor can be optimized to improve production output. MES works as real-time monitoring system to enable the control of multiple elements of the production process.
'The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (2009)' was awarded on 21 April.
PLC technicians design, program, repair, and maintain programmable logic controller (PLC) systems used within manufacturing and service industries ranging from industrial packaging to commercial car washes and traffic lights.
