IMTS 2026: Low-Code Manufacturing Automation Steps on PLC Turf
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IMTS 2026: Low-Code Manufacturing Automation Steps on PLC Turf
The industrial controls floor is dividing into two camps: shops that still hand-code every PLC interface, and those adopting low-code manufacturing automation platforms capable of orchestrating machine tools, robots and sensors from a single visual layer. At IMTS 2026, Caron Engineering is making a deliberately unsubtle case for the second camp.
Detail
The Maine-based controls and process-optimization specialist is running a fully integrated live cutting cell at Booth 134742, with its MiConnect low-code manufacturing automation platform positioned as the orchestration hub. Around it sit the company's TMAC tool monitoring, AutoComp adaptive wear compensation, ToolConnect tool-data management and DTect-It sensor analysis systems , all coordinating in real time rather than operating as isolated point tools.
The strategic story is not additive; it is architectural. MiConnect does not replace CNC controls or programmable logic controllers. Instead it rides above them, brokering data between CNC controls, PLCs, robot controllers, gaging systems and MES or analytics layers through prebuilt drivers and a drag-and-drop logic builder.
That positions low-code manufacturing automation squarely on territory that has historically belonged to PLC ladder logic and bespoke integrator scripting. The value proposition: automation applications built in days or weeks instead of months, and reconfigurable without reprogramming every interface.
Caron's demo mirrors what the major PLC vendors themselves have begun shipping , control engines running as software workloads above commodity hardware. The difference is approach: platform incumbents are retrofitting software-defined automation around their existing controllers, while MiConnect arrives as an independent, machine-agnostic integration fabric that treats the PLC as one participant among many.
The cell combines MiConnect as the visual, low-code application builder with four process-control technologies. TMAC performs adaptive tool monitoring and breakage detection. AutoComp calculates and writes tool-wear offsets back to the CNC control using post-process or in-process gage data. ToolConnect manages RFID-based tool identification and data transfer. DTect-It analyzes CNC sensor signals for process anomalies.
The buying drivers from 2026 capex conversations are consistent: reducing scrap, tightening process consistency, cutting cycle times and keeping complex, high-tolerance parts running with fewer experienced operators. Controls engineers are being asked to deliver more integration with flat or shrinking teams.
The workforce math makes the case harder to ignore. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute project that up to 1.9 million U.S. manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2033, with 65% of manufacturers calling talent attraction and retention their primary business challenge.
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