Embracing Innovation: Adapting to Evolving Control Trends

Control Trends Leaders are Leveraging for Operational Excellence and System Integrity

In today's manufacturing world, the systems that run production are changing fast. The time of simple, separate manufacturing control systems is ending, replaced by complex, interconnected operations. This change brings quality and engineering professionals both difficult new problems and strong new ways to improve how things run. To keep performance high, follow all rules and regulations, and protect crucial systems, professionals must keep learning. This article looks closely at three major control trends that are completely reshaping modern manufacturing control systems.

In the article “Embracing Innovation: Adapting to Evolving Control Systems Trends,” published in Quality Magazine, ACS expert Greg Larson, Equipment Project Manager, talks about the three control trends to keep in mind in order to modernize manufacturing operations and improve manufacturing quality. The three trends include:

1. The push for safety PLCs to meet rigorous ISO standards: The increasing adoption of safety PLCs is a significant trend driving manufacturing quality by helping companies meet rigorous ISO standards and achieve specific, verifiable benchmarks like Performance Level (PL) or Safety Integrity Level (SIL), and quality professionals must design and validate systems using these PLCs and advanced features to ensure a robust, standards-based safety framework that improves operational quality and safety.
2. AI enhances digital twin technology: AI-enhanced digital twin technology is becoming a more powerful and accessible tool for process simulation and optimization by improving the link between virtual models and physical machines to accurately replicate real-world decisions, offering quality professionals a significant opportunity to boost operational efficiency, accelerate development, and reduce downtime through rapid prototyping, accurate virtual testing, and streamlined integration via manufacturer-provided schematics.
3. Addressing evolving cybersecurity threats: As manufacturing systems face a growing threat from cyberattacks that target local PLC networks to manipulate settings and disrupt operations, the critical defense is implementing a Defense-in-Depth (DID) cybersecurity approach which involves hardening physical access and embedding security directly into the network, often using DID switches in PLC panels to isolate and control access, enabling quality professionals to proactively safeguard control systems and maintain integrity.

The continuous change in manufacturing control systems is redefining what manufacturing quality and reliability mean. These three control trends are essential: the demand for safety PLCs to meet tough ISO standards, the powerful insights offered by AI-driven digital twins, and the necessity of a layered cybersecurity plan to protect networks. For quality professionals, the goal is simple: adapt now. By leading the charge for improvement, making the most of new tools like AI, and building strong security into every system, you will make sure your manufacturing operations are optimized, follow regulations, and maintain the very highest standards of safety and performance for better manufacturing quality.

Read the full article here.