Nowadays, who can imagine industrial automation without the PLC?
And it’s no wonder. The PLC o Programmable Logic Controller is used for the automation of electromechanical processes, and since its creation has meant cost savings and increased reliability for those who have used it. But, who came up with the idea?
I encourage you to type in your search engine “Odo Struger” (on the left of the image) and “Dick Morley” (on the right of the image). It seems both are the creators of the PLC, but they are not linked together in any result. Strange, right? Well, I will try to clarify the matter by going back to the 1960s.
The control systems in those days had numerous problems, among them, lack of flexibility to expand processes or simply disorganization and wear of materials. Because of these, companies spent time and money fixing these machines to continue production.
In 1968 the company Hydramatic Division of General Motors Corporation sought to create a “standard machine controller” to improve these systems, and proposed to some manufacturers that they build a prototype of their idea, among which were Allen-Bradley y Bedford Associates with Odo Struger and Dick Morley, respectively.
Both companies created several solutions, of which the PMC or Programmable Matrix Controller by Allen Bradley and the MODICON 084, the PC or Programmable Controller by Bedford Associates (later Modicon).
Finally in 1971 engineers Odo Struger and Ernst Dummermuth improved their previous PMC based on consumer needs, creating the model 1774 PLC and coining the term PLC. The brand is still registered by Allen-Bradley.
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