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Control systems

1.1 Introduction

The term automation is used to describe the automatic operation or control of a process. In modern manufacturing there is an ever increasing use of automation, e.g. automatically operating machinery, perhaps in a production line with robots, which can be used to produce components with virtually no human intervention. Also, in appliances around the home and in the office there is an ever increasing use of automation. Automation involves carrying out operations in the required sequence and controlling outputs to required values.

The following are some of the key historical points in the development of automation, the first three being concerned with developments in the organisation of manufacturing which permitted ...

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