Control apparatus having remote PLC device and control method for same

A control apparatus comprising a main control section and a plurality of remote PLC devices connected via a communication line to said main control section;

• wherein said main control section comprises:
• a PLC computing unit managing an entire system comprising said main control section and said plurality of remote PLC devices;
• and a remote PLC communication control section executing data transaction through said communication line with said plurality of remote PLC devices, and also wherein each of said plurality of remote PLC devices comprises:
• a communication control section executing data transaction via said communication line with said main control section;
• a memory section for storing therein a sequence program transmitted via said communication line and specific to a specified remote PLC device;
• a machine input/output I/F section executing data transaction with an external machine controlled by said specified remote PLC device;
• and
• a PLC computing section for executing PLC processing with said sequence program according to at least data transmitted from said main control section and data obtained from said machine input/output I/F section.