10 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk February/March 2026 Insight Across much of UK industry, some of the most important digital systems are also the least visible. Human machine interface and SCADA platforms sit quietly behind production lines, utilities, energy networks and infrastructure, doing exactly what they were designed to do year after year. Once commissioned, they are expected to keep running with minimal disruption, often for decades. That longevity has long been one of industrial automation’s defining strengths. It is also increasingly one of its most complex challenges. Many of these systems were implemented at a time when industrial connectivity was limited, cloud computing was not part of architectural thinking, and artificial intelligence had no practical role in operational environments. Yet they continue to operate at the core of facilities now under pressure to become more efficient, Modernising legacy control systems A collaboration between Trimble and Engineers Without Borders is changing how rural communities in Uganda plan essential infrastructure. Through GIS mapping, drone surveys and shared data systems, engineers and students are developing the evidence based masterplans required to secure investment and build long term technical capability. Aaron Blutstein spoke to Trimble’s Sumele Adelana and Engineers Without Borders’ (EWB) Katie Cresswell-Maynard to find out more. more connected and more resilient. The result is a growing tension between operational stability and the expectations of modern digital strategy. From her vantage point working closely with UK industrial customers, Susan Roche sees this tension clearly. As General Manager of SolutionsPT, she points to the UK’s large installed base of legacy HMI and SCADA systems built on Wonderware InTouch. Many of these systems were deployed ten to fifteen years ago and in many cases much earlier. According to Roche, their continued reliability is precisely what has allowed them to remain in place as expectations around analytics, connectivity and cybersecurity have evolved around them. She is careful to stress that this is not a story of failure or neglect. In her assessment, the challenge is one of misalignment rather than obsolescence. These platforms were designed for a very different industrial context. As the industry now expects systems to support data reuse, integration with analytics platforms and modern security practices, the gap between original design intent and current expectations has become more visible. This understanding shapes Roche’s view of how modernisation needs to occur. For suppliers and customers alike, replacing working systems wholesale is rarely realistic. Facilities with long asset lifecycles, regulatory obligations and limited tolerance for downtime have little appetite for disruptive change. What is needed instead is a way to evolve established systems without undermining the stability on which operations depend. InTouch 2026 For AVEVA, that philosophy is reflected in the development of InTouch 2026. Rather than introducing a new product or architecture, InTouch
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