Despite the global economic slowdown, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are well positioned to rally, says consulting group ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com).

As the manufacturing sector rebounds, users will need the increased automation of PLCs to boost productivity, reduce costs, and increase flexibility.

But the comeback won't be easy. PLC makers will have to reinvent the technology to keep up with the trend of increasingly networked distributed automation systems. That movement is being pushed by the dropping cost of processing power, and the wide acceptance of open systems.

Flexibility will help too. New software will enable PLCs to handle more than logic, adding motion control and Web-enabled tasks, ARC says.