A brief discussion on the application and development of PLC

PLC Applications & Development

2026 Industrial Intelligence Report

From assembly lines to edge analytics—here's where PLCs are applied and how they've evolved. 20+ years of field experience in one guide.

PLC Applications

Manufacturing

Assembly lines: Automotive, appliances

Robotic cells: Welding, material handling

Conveyors: Material handling

Process Industries

Chemical: Batch, continuous

Pharmaceutical: Clean rooms

Water/wastewater: Filtration

Building Automation

HVAC: Climate control

Lighting: Energy management

Access control: Security

Energy

Power generation: Turbines

Distribution: Grid control

Renewables: Solar, wind

But here's what counts: the application hasn't changed—the platform has. From relay replacement to edge analytics—all on the same device.

Application Evolution

Era Application Focus 2026 Capability Key Platform
1970s Relay replacement Legacy still running Modicon, A-B
1980s Process control Legacy still running PLC-5, S5
1990s Integration Migration planning ControlLogix, S7
2020s Edge analytics Full integration Edge PLCs
2026 AI/ML integration On-platform Unified platforms

We've seen applications move from discrete to process to integrated. The application hasn't changed—the platform has evolved. The PLC is still the PLC, just more capable.

— Field Service Manager

Development Timeline

1968-1979
Relay replacement only—digital relay
1980-1989
Smart I/O, networking starts
1990-1999
IEC 61131, fieldbus
2000-2009
Ethernet, unified engineering
2010-2019
Edge computing begins
2020-2026
Edge analytics, predictive maintenance
Pro-Tip: Application development has moved to the edge. More customers are processing data locally. This is the biggest shift in application—nowhere near done.

The value is now in analytics—not in control speed. Data beats processing.

FAQ

+What's the biggest application shift?
Local processing. Edge analytics runs locally now. Data stays local, insights happen locally—that's the biggest change in our careers.
+Where is application development going?
Full integration—IT/OT coming together. Data flows to business systems without custom integration.
+Should I upgrade applications?
If your PLC doesn't connect—yes. If it runs—evaluate data needs. Edge analytics add more value than faster scan times.

Need Application Development?

We develop and modernize PLC applications.

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