PLC Basics

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Today we are going to talk about the basics of a PLC, the workhorse of industrial automation.

The programmable logic controller, or PLC, is a special purpose computer. It has no display, no keyboard, no printer, no hard drive, and hides in the control panel out on the factory floor, but it is still a computer.

Initially, the PLC was a replacement for panels of relays, devices that turn on and off. Making a machine run using relays as logic was time-consuming and challenging, and making a change in the logic or the operation of the machine was almost as complicated as starting over.