Look for more tough PCs on the shop floor
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/1/1998
Shop floor computers often need to be built tough to withstand the more punishing conditions in the factory vs. what PCs face in the front office. And, increasingly it appears, industrial users of PCs are looking to install industrial-strength units in their plants and warehouses.A recent survey of industrial users finds that the world market for "ruggedized" PCs and workstations (WSs) is growing at double-digit percentages annually. Venture Development Corp., Natick, Mass., projects yearly gains for stationary, rugged PCs/WSs to be 12.5%. Portable PC uses will advance even faster; at a 15.8% clip yearly.
More and more, industrial users around the globe will opt for rugged PCs/WSs for factory automation over so-called commercial, or "white box," PCs.
The survey also points to the trend away from programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and toward PCs. "Although some argue that PCs and PLCs are converging in price and functionality, PLCs are generally considered expensive and functionally limiting."
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