For manufacturing plants and the utility industries in particular, there is a major financial cost if systems go down. Until advances in technology in the last few decades, keeping machines and processes continuously up and running would also cost a lot in man power, training and expertise. For companies and businesses with sites in numerous and widespread locations, this involved extra costs as specialist engineers would have to travel to each site to monitor and potentially fix any problems. This is where automated control systems, such as PLC systems, have revolutionised these industries.
PLC stands for Programmable Logic Controller, and is an automated control system generally used to control machines and first used in the automotive industry. They work in a similar way to Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) in that they collect and analyse data in real-time so that any changes can be made before a system goes down or gets damaged. Before PLC systems, the control, monitoring and safety measures used were very laborious and time-consuming to update and replace. PLCs are a popular choice for industrial and manufacturing processes over other kinds of control systems because they are built to deal with dust, moisture, heat and cold, as well as resisting electrical noise, vibrations and impact.
Occasionally, PLCs are used together with Human-Machine Interface (HMI) software for greater everyday control. The data collected is then reported back to the software, where a human in the control room can see where the problem lies and act accordingly. Nowadays, PLCs are also often used with some kind of other system as a communicator, and they have built in communication ports for this purpose.
Iconsys are leaders in the design and manufacture of PLCs and other control and drive systems. For over 20 years, they have supplied quality equipment for numerous different industries to companies across the world.
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