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Panel wiring has always been a source of cost and overruns. It’s important to understand the devices that happen to be in the panel. We have all seen pictures of bad panel implementation where distance tolerances have not been observed. Heat issues, space and reflected or inductive voltages have always been a major consideration in panel design and implementation. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Jeremy Pollard, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses control panel wiring.

Control systems may have many types of circuits. The two primary circuits used in process are discrete and analog circuits. Discrete circuits are normally on or off and have a discrete response matching to buttons and switches. Analog circuits may be current based with 4-20 mA or voltage based with 0 to 10 V. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses how to troubleshoot 4-20 mA circuits.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore is joined by Sneha Mahajan, senior application engineer for control products at Nord Drivesystems, where they discuss functional safety.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, Dave Evans, president of MiSUMi Americas, joined Mike Bacidore at IMTS 2026 in Chicago to have a candid conversation from the show floor about automation distribution and supply chain management.

In the past, the relationship between electrical drawings and physical machines was largely left to the ability to visualize both. A motor might exist as a symbol on my electrical schematic, while its physical counterpart lived somewhere on a mechanical drawing. The two representations described different aspects of the same machine, but they were not necessarily connected. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Joey Stubbs, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses computer-aided design software.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, Mike Bacidore is joined by Brian Romano, director of technology development at Arthur G. Russell Co., executive board member of ISA and long-time collaborator with Control Design. They take a technical deep dive into some of the controls industries' hottest topics.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, Mike Bacidore is joined by Jeff Burnstein, President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the North American trade group representing almost 1,500 companies involved in robotics, artificial intelligence, machine vision, motion control and related automation technologies. Burnstein joined the association in 1983 and has held a variety of senior positions, culminating in his promotion to President in 2007. He is a frequent commentator on automation issues to the news media, policy makers and the public, and regularly speaks at global conferences on topics such the latest automation trends, the impact of automation on jobs and the future of automation beyond the factory floor. In 2023, he received the Engelberger Robotics Award for Leadership.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore spoke with Doug Woods, president of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, which hosts the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) September 14-19 at Chicago's McCormick Place. In this interview, Woods explains the missions of the association and the exhibition, which is the western hemisphere's largest manufacturing trade show, as well as expectations of what the 2026 IMTS has in store and how to navigate the massive event.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore spoke to Adrienne Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association, about the experience she brings from the Open DeviceNet Vendors Association and her MBA studies at the University of Michigan. In this interview, Meyer shares what she’s learned over the course of more than a year at the helm of CSIA, most of which she’s spent visiting and speaking with system integrators from around the world.

In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore spoke to Jagannathan Raghunathan, director of cyberphysical security services at Bureau Veritas, about the recent CISA alert. Raghunathan is also co-chair of the PLC Security Top 20 List. In this interview, he outlines how the PLC Security Top 20 List addresses programmable logic controller (PLC) vulnerabilities by offering practical, engineering-focused guidance across the hardware lifecycle.

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert on July 30 regarding a significant increase in cyber threat actors targeting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the water/wastewater sector. In this episode of Control Intelligence, Control Design’s longest standing columnist, automation industry veteran Jeremy Pollard, spoke with Mike Bacidore about the vulnerabilities of PLCs; the evolution of their connectivity to the Internet; the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and gateways; and what machine builders can learn from this to keep industrial equipment secure.

A terminal block is a place to connect a wire to another wire and create a junction point. Picture a terminal block as an intersection on a two-way or four-way highway. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses terminal blocks.

Hardware independence is what PC-based control promised back in the 1990s. You can run any software on any hardware you choose. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Jeremy Pollard, editor in chief Mike Bacidore compares the uses of PLCs and industrial PCs.

Factory OT uses wireless networks regularly to interface the physical world and the digital world. Transducers make this connection possible. A transducer is a component that converts one form of energy to another. Industrial controls capitalize on this device by utilizing the convenience of wireless in safety, remote and environmentally challenged environments. In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore explains the role of transducers in wireless networks.

Using vibrational analysis tools that can sense wear, imbalance, noise or harmonics can help identify machinery issues prior to failure. This allows for correcting those issues at a more convenient time, such as scheduled downtime, and avoid costly catastrophic failure. In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore shares how variable-frequency drives can be used for physical-asset condition monitoring.