Top 5 Automation World articles of 2025
Key Highlights
- Implementing proper industrial surge protection is essential for modern machine builds to safeguard sensitive control electronics (PLCs, VFDs) against damaging electrical transients, ensuring system resilience and meeting contemporary safety codes.
- Machine design, particularly in packaging, is being transformed by advanced motion control that leverages AI, distributed drive architectures and digital twins to achieve higher efficiency, reduced energy use and faster commissioning.
- Automation requires tackling core challenges like ensuring the interoperability of multi-vendor robotics tooling for faster integration and making informed manufacturing decisions by understanding the critical differences between edge gateways and historians for effective data management.
2025 has been a year packed with incredible technological innovations in the world of machine controls. At Control Design, we try to explain as much of it as we can.
Luckily, we are part of a larger organization with other partner publications that also provide excellent content about automation and controls. Automation World is one of those publications.
Here are five articles from 2025 that you might have missed.
Machine builders and system integrators must design automated equipment that is safe, compliant and resilient. That starts with basics like electrical protection. This article on industrial surge protection explains essential technologies and installation standards for protecting automated systems from damaging electrical transients such as surges caused by lightning or switching events. Proper surge suppression protects sensitive control electronics like programmable logic controllers (PLCs), variable-frequency drives (VFDs) and safety circuits, reduces unplanned downtime and helps machines meet evolving electrical safety codes and best practices.
Advanced motion control and effective control system design are also central to modern machine builds. This article about how motion control is transforming packaging equipment highlights how controls enabled with artificial intelligence (AI), distributed drive architectures and digital twins are transforming packaging machinery, enabling higher efficiency, reduced energy use and quicker commissioning—key competitive factors for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) delivering turnkey systems.
Meanwhile, the Control System Integrators Association’s article answering seven critical design questions gives integrators and machine builders a roadmap for tackling integration of legacy and new systems, secure Industrial Internet of Things (IioT) connectivity, scalability, regulatory compliance and predictive maintenance—core challenges that determine automation project success and long-term return on investment (ROI).
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Component interoperability has gained interest and momentum in the equipment-building community. Robotics adoption also continues to grow, making interoperability and lifecycle support essential. The robot end-of-arm tooling article shows how interoperable tooling can significantly reduce integration time, cut costs and boost ROI by enabling plug-and-play flexibility across different robot platforms—important for integrators deploying multi-vendor robotic cells.
Collecting, preserving and utilizing manufacturing data effectively has become a critical part of machinery's function in manufacturing environments. This article looks into the critical differences between edge gateways and historians to make more informed manufacturing decisions using machine data.
Top 5 Automation World articles for machine builders and system integrators
- Industrial Surge Protection: Essential Technologies and Installation Standards for Automated Equipment Safety
- Motion Control Technology Trends Transforming Packaging Equipment
- 7 Critical Control System Design Questions
- Robot End-of-Arm Tooling Interoperability Cuts Costs and Boosts ROI
- Edge Gateways vs. Historians: Choosing the Right Option for Your Factory Floor
