Industrial automation

Industrial automation uses control systems, machinery, and software to perform industrial processes with reduced human intervention. It ranges from automating individual machines to coordinating entire production lines.

Programmable logic controller: An industrial computer that executes programmed logic to control machines and processes. PLCs commonly run machine sequences and respond to industrial sensor inputs.
Industrial robot: A programmable machine used to move materials, tools, or parts through industrial tasks. Robots are a prominent form of programmable automation for handling and production.
Assembly line: A production arrangement in which a product moves through sequential workstations. Automation coordinates repeated operations and material flow along assembly lines.
Manual labor: Work performed primarily through human physical effort and judgment rather than automated machinery. It contrasts with processes shifted from direct human execution to machines and control systems.
Industrial safety: The practices and systems used to prevent injury and harm in industrial workplaces. Automated machinery introduces hazards that require guarding, interlocks, and safe operating procedures.
Distributed control system: A control architecture that coordinates process operations through controllers distributed across a plant. DCSs manage continuous processes across many interconnected plant units.
Industrial control system: Hardware and software that monitor or control industrial processes and equipment. Industrial automation is implemented through control systems that connect computation to physical operations.
Process control: The regulation of industrial process variables to achieve desired operating conditions or outputs. Automated process control maintains conditions in chemical, energy, and manufacturing operations.
Mechanization: The use of machinery to assist or replace physical effort, without necessarily automating control. Mechanization can reduce manual effort while leaving operation and decisions to people.
Functional safety: The part of overall safety that depends on systems responding correctly to hazardous conditions. Safety instrumented controls can bring automated processes to a safe state when faults occur.

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