Hello Moof,
Except for some very specialized functions, few industries can use a canned product like a microcontroller. Usually, they requiere easy reprogramability even without stoping the controlled process. This functionality is hard to get in a microcontroller system.
I definitively vote por a PLC.
Best regards
Me too.
I vote for PLCs.
Only I will use microcontrollers if I dont have enough money and is not important confiability.
You can have PLC as cheap as u$d 250 (festo fec).
I think it depend on your project. Because PLC is built on Microprocessor and Microcontroller is Microprocessor and ... so when u request short time and don't care about the price, u use PLC and ...
It's only a question of costs, if you are thinking for example to build one thousand of machines that needs to be automated then I think' s that a solution using microcontroller can be studied.
But if you are building only one, PLC should be used....