industrial//industrial automation//discrete automation

Automation of things that happen in countable events: automotive, packaging, logistics, assembly, machines. A part is present, a robot acts, the conveyor advances, the part leaves. Each step is a clearly defined event and the logic is a sequence of conditions.

Automation of things that happen in countable events: automotive, packaging, logistics, assembly, machines. A part is present, a robot acts, the conveyor advances, the part leaves. Each step is a clearly defined event and the logic is a sequence of conditions.

PLCs dominate this world: Ladder logic was invented for exactly this kind of interlocked sequence (IEC 61131-3).

The machine is often delivered whole by an OEM with its own controller, sensors, actuators and HMI, and then has to be integrated with the plant. That is where a lot of interoperability trouble is born.

Where discrete becomes demanding: coordinated axes, servos and robots, which push the timing requirement from "milliseconds" to "synchronized microseconds" (motion control).