Automatic controllers meet the challenge of the digital factory

摘要

As with all manufacturing technology, the importance of automatic process control depends ultimately on the productivity gains achieved. As far as the programming of automatic systems is concerned, it must be admitted that there have been few developments in the past fifteen years that can be said to have increased the importance of this task in the eyes of those not directly involved in the field such as project managers, mechanical design engineers, production engineers and "traditional" computer programmers. An in-depth analysis of the constraints under which programmers work and the weaknesses in their profession has highlighted a solution which admittedly sets ambitious targets but also opens the door to reduced costs and shortened times to market that have hitherto been unattainable.