Is Digitization and IoT a new thing? Not if you come from industrial automation.
Everywhere and every day we are overwhelmed by articles and talks about the IoT , connectivity, big data, the digital transformation and all the benefits we can derive from this innovative, new technology. These are exciting times for sure, and maybe even more exciting if you are like me and have been working in industrial automation for many years. Because what we are seeing today are things that we have been developing over many years now becoming embedded as part of mainstream, modern digital life. Advertisement for the Modicon 584 PLC, 1985 Without overloading you with technicalities, I’m going to give a few examples of things industrial automation has been working on since the 1960s that are now part of today’s digital transformation. 1.The birth of smart edge devices In 1968, along with a group of engineers, Richard Morley founded Bedford Associates and invented the first programmable logic controller , the 084. He then established Modicon the company, der...