For a very long time, the industry persisted in preserving its sinecure and got bogged down in sideshows such as the fieldbus war. While pioneers paved the way for computers in industrial control technology quite early on - such as Hans Beckhoff in 1986 with his first PC-based machine controller (see page 46 in the e-paper) - the widespread introduction of the associated IT technologies was a long time coming. It was not until the politically-triggered Industry 4.0 hype from 2011 onwards that IT technologies in automation technology set off a wave that has since flooded the broad field of automation with increasing speed and amplitude.

The first cover picture of Computer&Automation from 1998.

© WFM

A striking example of IT-driven evolution: the further development of the programmable logic controller. Long based on special and proprietary hardware, the software-based PLC followed with the advent of the IPC - and today we are experiencing the transition to the virtual PLC in the cloud. You can read about the benefits of such a cloud-based PLC - including a cloud-based safety PLC - from page 40 onwards.

However, putting all control functionality in the cloud is not the end of the story: in the interview on page 44, Stefan Schönegger explains why he sees the future of control equally on site at the machine, at the edge and in the cloud. And in essence, it's not even about where the control or automation functionality is ultimately provided. Essentially, users like Dr. Henning Löser from Audi are concerned with separating the software applications from the hardware in general. Löser describes the advantage of this approach as being that "all applications can then be provided with 100% identical hardware." Whether on site, at the edge or in the cloud(page 42). Löser formulates his vision even more concretely: "I would like to see all hardware on the store floor disappear. I would like functionality on site and functionality is software." He justifies his wish with a requirement that he himself is confronted with: "How are we supposed to manage 15,000 Windows PC changeovers in our plants if this has to be done during a 20-minute shift break?" By way of comparison, he points to the way data centers work: "The problem is solved differently there than it has been for us in the factory so far!"

Löser is thus describing a path of automation that we are currently also experiencing in higher-level ERP systems: the shift towards "composable software". As with Lego, each component of a composable solution is a reconfigurable building block that digitally maps a core requirement. In this way, companies can build a truly individual IT solution, even in automation.
The arrival of Docker and Cybernetes technologies, the emergence of automation app stores - these are all indicators that point the way to automation that is decoupled from hardware.

Ultimately, IT and automation will no longer be clearly separable. In a deep-rooted symbiosis, they could form the technological basis for getting to grips with the problems facing humanity. Visionaries such as Rahman Jamal(page 10) and Rainer Brehm(page 98) hint at the role and importance that automation could play in the future in the interviews we conducted with them.

We are convinced that automation is only at the beginning of its "product life cycle"!

Your opinion on the subject: Write to Meinrad Happacher