Technology has been blazing ahead with larger memory capacity and smaller, faster processors in less space. The volume of quality commercial off-the-shelf digital devices used in so many everyday applications is bringing down the price.
New Ethernet technologies have made that venerable communication technique practical for process control work. All of this has contributed to much more affordable, small control systems. This has in turn allowed inexpensive but sophisticated control for applications and industries, which previously were not possible or practical.
The new markets that opened up provided opportunities for the process control companies to offer smaller but complete systems. Because many of these systems had the capacity to scale up, they were equally attractive to traditionally larger companies to also “start small, grow large” and try different suppliers without much risk.
The flexibility of the five IEC 61131 languages and their relative ease of use was attractive to batch-based industries, which often were small batch process units of operation with a packaging line “downstream.” That packaging line was the province of the PLC world. There was pressure (and opportunity) to marry the process and discrete functions in the same control system. Those batch operations were among the earliest to struggle with the need for a hybrid of discrete and process. This no doubt led to the designation of “hybrid industries.” Pressure on the pharmaceutical industries to expand production led the need for “hybrid controls” to also include large system networks.
Both PLC and DCS suppliers raced to fill the void. Today they can be integral to enterprise control systems, which encompass the business side of the operations, not just the manufacturing.
Further, systems include optimization at all levels, which include alarm management, predictive maintenance, cyber security, and the safety of people, product, and equipment.