Industrial Control Designline Blog

Happy birthday to the PLC

Rich Pell

11/11/2008 1:08 PM EST

By most accounts, the industry's first programmable logic controller - the Modicon (MOdular DIgital CONtroller) 084 - went into regular production in November of 1969, marking this month as the 39th anniversary of its introduction. Spurred by then automotive giant General Motors' need for a simpler, more cost-efficient replacement for hard-wired relay systems, it was actually introduced a few months after PLC products from vendors DEC and 31.

However, conceived in early 1968 by engineer Richard Morley - now best known as the "father of the PLC" - the '084' is distinguished as having been the earliest documented PLC in development. When introduced, it and the other PLCs apparently sold in the range of $5,000 to $10,000.

For an interesting historical overview of the PLC, see Control Engineering's How Programmable Logic Controllers Emerged from Industry Needs. A shorter article from the same source includes a PLC timeline. Finally, an interview with Richard Morley discussing the origins of the PLC is available from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Email me at rich.pell@verizon.net.



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