PAC Control Technology Integrates IT and All Automation Functions

For more than thirty years, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have been used for implementing industrial control systems. In the course of technological development the requirements regarding motion control, data processing, operator guidance, and communication have changed. PLC technology has been geared to these new standards without eliminating the basic shortcomings of the system. Now there is a new star on the horizon referred to as “Programmable Automation Controller” (PAC).

In the USA the term PAC has been defined for an entirely new generation of control technology. The integration of automation functions into one system and one software and the consistent use and integration of standards from mainly the IT world are essential features of PAC architecture:

• One platform for logic, motion system, closed loop control and process control
• One software platform for the entire automation system
• One standard data platform for all automation functions
• An architecture that supports modular machine structures
• The use of de facto standards, from the IT world in particular
• An architecture which allows the integration into ERP systems, production planning systems and other EDP systems of importance to production