The operators in the industry are - in general - craftsmen knowing how to manufacture a good product and not just technicians. Each control system is built and programmed to operate the plant with the skills to understand the process. No extensive knowledge of computer systems is necessary. Based on the process flow diagram, the lay-out, the required level of automation and the availability of hard- and software, a system is selected with, for example, a local operator panel (HMI) and /
or, central control with SCADA (Supervisory Control
and Data Acquisition), networks and hardware. This allows
for a selection of the soft- and hardware already in use in
the factory resulting in less investment in programming
tools and spare parts.