Industrial automation is a set of technologies that results in operation of machines and systems without human intervention to a large extent. It enables factories to achieve performance superior to manual operation. Whereas 'control' is another set of technologies that achieves desired patterns of variations of operational parameters and sequences for machines and systems by providing the input signals necessary.

SCADA is a system of hardware and software that combines industrial automation and control. Short for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition, SCADA are the backbone of modern industry. It allows industries to monitor, gather, and process data; interact with and control machines and devices such as valves, pumps, motors, and more, which are connected through HMI (human-machine interface) software, and record events into a log file.