The most-read Control Engineering stories of 2025, ranked by Google Analytics pageviews, reflect reader interest in automation fundamentals, AI, cybersecurity and open systems.
As 2025 came to a close, Control Engineering readers once again made clear which topics mattered most to the controls, automation and industrial engineering community. Last year, they gravitated toward stories that balanced proven fundamentals with emerging technologies reshaping industrial automation. This year’s most-read articles, using pageview data from Google Analytics, highlighted strong interest in core control concepts such as PID tuning, alongside growing attention to open process automation, artificial intelligence in manufacturing, industrial cybersecurity and software-defined control architectures. From large-scale Lighthouse projects at global producers to practical guidance engineers can apply on the plant floor, these stories reflect the questions, challenges and innovations that mattered most to the Control Engineering community in 2025.
Before diving into this 2025’s most-read stories, it’s worth remembering what captured readers’ attention in 2024. Last year’s top articles focused heavily on foundational technologies and workforce insights, including selecting medium-voltage VFDs, understanding industrial networking, ensuring industrial robot safety, recognizing good and bad PID tuning practices and analyzing compensation and career trends through the annual Control Engineering Career and Salary Survey.
Together, the 2024 and 2025 lists show a consistent reader appetite for practical engineering guidance, which is now increasingly complemented by interest in AI, open systems and digital transformation.
Top 10 Control Engineering articles posted during 2025
These are the Control Engineering articles published during 2025 that attracted the most reader attention. Based on Google Analytics pageviews, this list highlights the new content released this year that resonated most strongly with engineers, covering topics from open process automation and AI to cybersecurity and core control fundamentals.
1. New insights: 100-controller ExxonMobil Open Process Automation – March 3, 2025
ARC Industry Leadership Forum, 2025: ExxonMobil runs Open Process Automation (OPA) system in a large-scale Lighthouse Project, with a 1000 I/O and 100 controllers at a resin finishing plant in Baton Rouge, providing reliable interoperability, without glitches.
2. PID spotlight, part 19: PID controller tuning best practices – Aug. 12, 2025
You’ve been trained to tune PID controllers on self-limiting and integrating processes, but are you ready to tune? Can we trust you to do it safely? Do you know how to work with the operators responsible for the process? Do you know that there are problems that tuning cannot fix? Finally, do you know that after you are done tuning you are not done?
3. How to incorporate AI into process manufacturing – July 30, 2025
Not all artificial intelligence (AI) is built for industrial success. Process manufacturers need AI solutions grounded in first principles — ensuring accuracy, safety and efficiency — while reducing complexity in model design and development.
4. How to mitigate the ongoing Salt Typhoon telecom hack: CISA – Feb 12, 2025
ARC Leadership Forum, 2025: CISA expert offers risk mitigation tips in the ongoing Salt Typhoon telecom hack, worst in U.S. history, with other industrial cybersecurity advice.
5. PID spotlight, part 15: Open loop tuning of near integrating process – Feb. 17, 2025
Slow, self-limiting processes can be very time-consuming and difficult to tune. However, a self-limiting process with a high lag/deadtime ratio looks a lot like an integrating process. Can we tune these processes as if they are integrating processes, treating them like near-integrating processes? Yes, we can.
6. Does AI have you on edge? Save up to 15% in control system updates – Feb. 3, 2025
Edge, cloud and hybrid architectures will be used to deploy artificial intelligence solutions, so forward-thinking organizations are laying the proper groundwork now to handle upcoming needs. AI for process modernization projects automatically converts up to 70% of configuration for savings up to 15%.
7. How to drive visibility through centralized monitoring techniques – Jan. 9, 2025
Centralized monitoring of process plants can be a critical enabler for operational excellence, but it requires easy access to contextualized data from automation systems.
8. PID spotlight, part 14: How open loop tuning works in an integrating process – Feb. 10, 2025
Tuning a new PID controller begins with an open loop step test. What are the steps? What data do I collect? What calculations are required? How well will it work? What problems might I run into?
9. PID spotlight, part 21: Noise: Can I tune around it? – Oct. 20, 2025
I have a noisy process. How does that affect my PID controller? Can I tune my controller like I always do, or do I have to change tuning because of the noise?
10. Shell modernizes refinery control with software-defined automation – Sept. 25, 2025
Schneider Electric demonstrates how the hardware agnostic distributed intelligence of its EcoStruxure Automation Expert platform is creating a flexible control architecture for manufacturers.
Top Control Engineering covers of 2025
While we loved all of Control Engineering’s 2025 covers, Creative Director Michael Smith selected these three as his favorite covers of the year.
For the January/February cover photo about machine vision, Smith said, “The graphics do a nice job of quickly conveying unacceptable quality when coupling machine vision with AI. The background image colors are meant to further enhance the cover message.”
For the May/June cover on smart manufacturing, Smith said, “The goal of this cover was to highlight smart manufacturing in a clean complimentary environment. The images coupled together are examples of smart manufacturing set with a very futuristic environment. The orange text design is meant to complement existing colors and tie the artwork and message together.”
For the July/August issue on AI/ML integration, Smith said, “This cover does a nice job of showing people interacting with technology in a process environment. Quality lighting and a neutral environment work to elevate the human aspect.”
You can review these and other print/digital editions on the 2025 digital edition page.
Top 10 Control Engineering articles posted before 2025
Not all of the most-read stories in 2025 were published this year. This list ranks the top Control Engineering articles by 2025 pageviews, regardless of when they were originally published. These evergreen resources continue to deliver value, drawing sustained interest from readers seeking practical guidance and foundational knowledge.
1. PLC programming language fundamentals for improved operations, maintenance – July 18, 2023
Programmable logic controller (PLC) programming languages help keep manufacturing operations running smoothly. Learn about the five types of PLC programming languages and how they’re used.
2. Top 5 VFD parameter changes explained – July 1, 2020
Programming variable frequency drives (VFDs) to fit most industrial applications require only the most basic settings to operate the motor. Understand these 5 VFD parameter changes to optimize VFD programming to fit most motor-drive applications.
3. Understanding permanent magnet motors – Janu. 31, 2017
A permanent magnet (PM) motor is an ac motor that uses magnets imbedded into or attached to the surface of the motor’s rotor. This article provides an elementary understanding behind the terminology, concepts, theory, and physics behind PM motors.
4. Throwback Attack: How NotPetya Ransomware Took Down Maersk – Sept. 30, 2021
The NotPetya ransomware attack took down shipping giant Maersk in 2017. What lessons can organizations take away to protect themselves?
5. Understanding PID control and loop tuning fundamentals – July 26, 2016
PID loop tuning may not be a hard science, but it’s not magic either. Here are some tuning tips that work.
6. Industrial robot safety considerations, standards and best practices to consider – June 6, 2024
As industrial robots become more integral to manufacturing processes, ensuring their safe operation is crucial as well as making sure workers are protected.
7. Industrial networking 101: Everything you need to know – Feb. 8, 2024
Industrial networking is vital to today’s manufacturing landscape. From different types of networks to key components and best practices, this guide will help you navigate the intricacies of industrial Ethernet networking. See video.
8. Understanding Derivative in PID Control – Feb. 1, 2010
The third factor in PID is the least understood. Derivative action can do good things, but when used improperly, it causes headaches.
9. Understanding the effect of PWM when controlling a brushless dc motor – Jan. 26, 2022
Motion system designers can be challenged when selecting or developing electronics using pulse-width modulation (PWM) to drive brushless dc motors. Heed some basic physical phenomena to avoid unexpected performance issues, along with general guidelines for using a PWM driver with a brushless DC motor. See diagrams, equations.
10. Throwback Attack: A Florida teen hacks the Department of Defense and NASA – April 6, 2021
When most people think of hackers, they picture grizzled, bearded adults sitting in darkened rooms spotlit by the glow of multiple monitors. Or perhaps hardened foreign operatives covertly working for government agencies. If the movie “Wargames” has taught us anything, it’s that hacking takes all kinds.
Control Engineering also recognizes top articles monthly. Think about how to deliver hot Control Engineering topics to your peers in 2025, appreciated whether recognized among the leading contributions or now, to help expand Control Engineering knowledge.
Traffic ranking and compilation based on www.controleng.com Google Analytics were performed by Gary Cohen, and cover analysis was done by Michael Smith, both with WTWH Media.
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