Computer Control in the Corn Industry – Status and Future

Abstract

In the past few years computer control has become a significant factor in the corn industry. This can be attributed to a) the success of the A. E. Staley Manufactoring Company plant at Lafayette, Indiana (USA), b) the need to better utilize energy and control losses, and c) the steady reduction in the cost of a computer based system. Attitudes of engineering people in the industry is rapidly changing in favour of computer based systems. However, attitudes of production and company management is still conservative. Most new facilities will have computer based instrumentation. There will be an increase in the number of applications in existing plants to make them more efficient. Systems of the future will feature distributed control and a trend from the central control room.