IMS Research offers advice on PLCs

Major PLC suppliers are focusing more on becoming a solution provider to expand PLC and other automation businesses.

The growing importance of sharing information and software developments has made integrated automation solutions more important.

Customers must make good business decisions based on information obtained from the plant floor.

The PLC plays an important role in integrated automation solutions.

The integration of a PLC into the whole system makes it not just a single controller, but a true extension of the whole enterprise computer system.

In addition, an integrated automation solution with PLCs can perform tasks in process control, motion control, drive control, PID control, maintenance, vision systems, HMI design and integration with higher device layers such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

This integrated automation solution market for PLCs is growing faster than the traditional PLC market, in which PLCs are sold as a single hardware component.

Although it currently accounts for only a small proportion of the total PLC market and is more related to the high-end PLC market, the use of PLCs in integrated solutions is enabling suppliers to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

It is also helping the major PLC suppliers to win more industry automation business to augment their traditional PLC business.

Anybody wanting an interview with an expert in this area should contact Jan Zhang, market research analyst at IMS Research.

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