PLCopen is an independent organisation providing efficiency in industrial automation based on the needs of users.
The outcome for example is standardized libraries for different application fields, harmonized language conformity levels and engineering interfaces for exchange.
Experts of the PLCopen members are organized in technical committees and together with end users define such open standards.
PLCopen was founded in 1992 just after the world wide programming standard IEC 61131-3 was published.
The IEC 61131-3 is a standard defining the programming languages for PLCs, embedded controls, and industrial PCs, harmonizing applications independent from specific dialects, but still based on known methods such as the textual programming languages Instruction List, and Structured Text, the graphical programming languages Function Block Diagram and Ladder Diagram (a.k.a.