Acronyms can be hard to figure out. If you want proof, look no further than our Acronyms Are Hard Series! When jumping between a few different industries, these seemingly harmless terms can lead to confusion, mass hysteria, or worse potential problems with the end result.

Generally speaking, we do our best to define acronyms (if we even use them at all) in order to make sure that we avoid misunderstanding. After we’ve been working on a project for a while, all the appropriate acronyms will be pinned to the top of the projects and/or burned into our minds so we’ll never forget them. That is until the next project comes around and we need to re-learn everything.

Two of the most confusing Acronyms are PID and P&ID. It’s hard enough when they are clearly articulated.

PID

A chart representing the Proportional Integral Derivative equation

PID stands for Proportional Integral Derivative. Typically associated with Proportional Integral Derivative Control or PID Control. A PID is used for a control loop. Some people even have a PhD in PID! Most Corso Systems customers are tuning PIDs as part of their PLCs. Some have stand alone "controllers" for a specific loop. How to tune them is the same, but the difference lies in additional functions. Here’s a Wikipedia article about PID controllers which goes into extreme detail!

Many software options offer an “auto tune” function—and it hardly ever works well. But, learning a couple of basic tuning skills will take you a long way. Corso is not going to teach you how to tune a PID loop. We will offer this pretty good guide that we’ve found.

P&ID

P&ID stands for Piping & Instrumentation Diagram. The internet tells us that these diagrams illustrate the piping processes and interactions with other installed equipment and instrumentation. You can learn more from another great Wikipedia article, because we can't show you any of our customers P&IDs!

A P&ID - Piping & Instrumentation Diagram

A P&ID is a beautiful document that illustrates your process and shows how everything works. It will give us the majority of the information we need to hash out the PLC codel. And from there, we can build your HMI screens.

When Corso Systems creates a SCADA, we work with the people at the facility to make sure that we make what everyone needs at an individual level. The MES furthers the power of the SCADA and then captures the low laying fruit in the system so that you can make improvements in your process.

Could these two acronyms be the most confusing while in the middle of a conversation? Yes.

Ready to get learn more about SCADA or MES? Check those out and then contact us and we'll figure out how to work together.

Updated - 6/15/2022