The purpose and scope of this papers is to explore the benefits of using PC for industrial control. The standard Personal Computer (PC) has begun to be used for direct machine control in a number of industrial applications. The plants which have taken this step have done so to take advantage of the reduced cost and increased flexibility of the PC. Other plants which have considered the use of PC's may not be familiar with the benefits of this type of control system.
This paper explores the benefits which must be considered when evaluating the use of Personal Computers instead of Programmable Logic Controllers for the direct control of industrial equipment.