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.
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.
An orchestration layer that sits above the PLC
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.
Analyst Insight: 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.
A closer look at the live cell
What is running inside the IMTS 2026 demonstration?
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.
Why low-code manufacturing automation is winning budgets
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.
Market Trend: Gartner projects the low-code development technologies market to exceed $26 billion by 2027, with roughly three-quarters of new enterprise applications built on low-code tools by 2026 — up from less than 25% in 2020. Industrial automation is the latest vertical to absorb that wave, and CNC cell orchestration is its sharpest current expression.
Low-code and software-defined automation market data
Low-code market: Projected to exceed $26 billion by 2027 (Gartner), with some 2026 forecasts above $30 billion.
Adoption velocity: 75% of new enterprise applications will use low-code technologies by 2026, up from under 25% in 2020; 80% of low-code platform users are expected to come from outside IT departments.
Development speed: Organizations adopting low-code report 50–70% faster development cycles, with some industrial applications compressing months of integration work into days or weeks.
Workforce pressure: U.S. manufacturing may need 3.8 million new workers between 2024 and 2033; as many as 1.9 million positions could remain unfilled (2024 Deloitte & Manufacturing Institute Talent Study).
The PLC industry's software-defined pivot
Caron Engineering is not alone in reading the moment. The software-defined automation roadmaps of the major PLC vendors have converged on the same pattern: control logic decoupled from hardware, running alongside edge workloads, and increasingly authored through AI-assisted or low-code environments.
Analyst Insight: The defining competition of the next controls cycle will be fought at the orchestration layer, not the I/O layer. Whoever owns the tool that binds CNC, PLC, robot and MES data streams — independent integrators or incumbent platforms — owns the architecture conversation for a generation of greenfield and retrofit cells.
How major PLC vendors are responding
Siemens: Aligning software-defined automation with industrial AI, including an Eigen Engineering Agent that automates PLC engineering tasks and commissions virtual PLCs autonomously.
Rockwell Automation: Logix Edge runs the Logix engine as an isolated workload on an industrial PC, while FactoryTalk Design Studio adds generative AI and low-code/no-code tools to simplify PLC engineering.
Schneider Electric: Advancing open, software-defined automation centered on the Universal Automation ecosystem, spanning edge control to hybrid cloud at Automate 2026.
Beckhoff, Yokogawa and AVEVA: Each shipping software-defined automation or control runtime strategies that treat field devices and controllers as update-ready software assets.
The bottom line for controls engineers
The IMTS 2026 booth will be judged less on individual technologies than on whether the integrated cell runs cleaner, faster and with fewer interventions than a traditionally coded equivalent. That is precisely the comparison low-code manufacturing automation platforms are forcing the market to make.
For controls teams, the practical question is no longer whether to adopt configuration-driven orchestration, but which layer should own it: the PLC vendor's roadmap or a machine-agnostic platform that spans the whole cell.
Frequently asked questions
Is MiConnect a replacement for PLCs?
No. MiConnect operates above existing controllers, using prebuilt drivers to connect CNC controls, PLCs, robot controllers, sensors and software platforms. It orchestrates data and workflows rather than replacing deterministic control logic.
Why does low-code matter for CNC automation specifically?
CNC cells increasingly mix devices from multiple vendors — robots, gaging, presetters, tool data systems and MES platforms. Hand-coding each interface is slow and brittle. A low-code layer centralizes those connections and lets engineers reconfigure workflows without reprogramming the PLC or hiring custom integrators.
Where can I see the live cutting cell at IMTS 2026?
Caron Engineering is demonstrating the MiConnect-centered cell at Booth 134742 during IMTS 2026, September 14–19, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago.
