As an important role in the industrial control device family, the growth of the PLC market basically fluctuates with the economic trend. After experiencing excess energy, reduced demand, and decline, the growth of small and medium-sized PLC in the OEM industry is significantly faster than that in the traditional project industry. It is expected that the PLC market will be in a recovery period in the next three years.
Based on intelligent manufacturing, it is nothing more than the monitoring and maintenance of production equipment. The system failure is found through real -time monitoring, so as to maintain solution as soon as possible. The core product that needs to be used is the programmable logic controller (PLC), and the goal that needs to be achieved is the full life cycle management of production equipment.
The earliest PLC appeared in the late 1960s. Major American automobile manufacturers wanted to use a digital device to replace the complicated wiring of the relay control system of the automobile production line to eliminate huge production costs. Dick Morley’s Bedford Associates in Massachusetts proposed a digital controller called modular, and the world’s first PLC put into commercial production was the Modicon produced by the company he founded. 084.
As we all know, PLC is essentially a computer dedicated to industrial control. Its hardware structure is basically the same as that of a microcomputer. Its basic components include power supply, central processing unit (CPU), memory, input and output interface circuits, functional modules, and communications. module. PLC is not only used for switch control, but also for analog and digital control. It can collect and store data, and can also monitor the control system. It can also be networked and communicated to achieve large-scale cross-regional control and management.
Nowadays, PLC has increasingly become an important role in the industrial control device family. For example, in the controller industry, which is the most widely used in discrete manufacturing, PLC performs auxiliary activities and PAC plays a penetrating function, achieving good cooperation in robots and distributed process control. This also causes the growth of the PLC market to basically fluctuate with economic trends.
As the global economic development speed slows down, users pay more attention to software and supporting services when purchasing, and PLC-related services become more important. Many suppliers outsource PLC-related services in order to focus more on improving the core competitiveness of enterprises. In PLC/PAC In the market, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers and end users are facing different problems, and the market growth phenomenon no longer exists. Especially in 2015, some project-based markets and OEM markets had overcapacity and reduced demand, and PLC showed a downward trend; while it improved in 2016, it still showed a downward trend and the decline rate decreased.
However, the industry believes that the PLC market will generally be in the recovery stage in the next three years. In terms of long-term growth, small and medium-sized PLCs are still the most worthy of attention. With the improvement of economic level, China’s automation level is in urgent need of development. The growth of small and medium-sized PLCs in the OEM industry is significantly faster than that in the traditional project industry, although currently users are still keen on Improved versions of small PLCs are used, but in the future, the share of small and medium-sized PLCs is likely to increase.
In the small PLC market, the main pattern is still dominated by three manufacturers: Siemens, Mitsubishi and Omron; in the large PLC market, Rockwell, Schneider, and Siemens still dominate the world; in the medium-sized PLC market, Siemens still stands out. Although in the short term, we have not yet seen the forces that will change the situation, there are some potential forces that need to be noted.
Then, can domestic PLC, which is surrounded by foreign giants, buck the trend and rise during the recovery period?
In fact, with the rapid development of foreign PLC, most PLC manufacturers in my country do not yet have independent intellectual property rights. How to further enhance their strength technically will be the key for domestic brands to gain market competitive advantages. In this regard, our country should concentrate its funds and technical strength to develop and produce PLC series products with independent intellectual property rights as soon as possible.
Domestic PLC manufacturers should unite to form a group company, set up a specialized R&D institution, jointly develop various electromechanical products, vigorously improve product reliability and compatibility, establish a complete sales network and service system, and dare to compete with others on the international stage. Multinational companies compete.
Meeting the needs of users is the key to leveraging the market. Relevant companies should also work hard on software integration while expanding the scope of PLC applications. For different industrial production processes, system integration software, human-machine interface software and application software with its own characteristics are formed. In the development of small PLC products, it is necessary to choose a suitable balance point in terms of integration, functionality, applicability, economy, etc., and design products that meet the different requirements of users.
With the popularity of the Internet of Things, PLC networking is also within reach. Under the current trend of intelligent manufacturing strategic transformation such as Industry 4.0 and “Made in China 2025” around the world, new opportunities for PLC are gradually emerging. However, there are still problems in the application of my country’s PLC control devices in existing industrial production fields. Therefore, PLC should pay attention to improving its technical level and adapting to diverse production in automated control applications.production environment, thus enabling PLC to become the technical pillar of my country’s modern automation control and promote the development of our country’s economy. (Source: China Intelligent Manufacturing Network) 
