A - MODEL BASED CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESSES Advanced control algorithms developed so far will enable control of processes that are difficult to handle with conventional design methods. Applications in cement industry and wastewater treatment plants control contribute to improved quality, higher throughput and reduced energy and material consumption. B - FAULT DETECTION AND ISOLATION IN TECHNICAL PROCESSES Trials with model-based and signal-based techniques seem promising in the context of operator's decision support (in process industry) and quality assessment in manufacturing industries (Domel). C - COMPUTER INTEGRATED PRODUCTION The proposed control specification syntax shows direct impact on quality and reliability of source code programming for control system design. The tool for automatic code generation substantially improves the efficiency of the control system design. Achievements in production scheduling contribute to better productivity and overall system performance. On the other hand, understanding the non-technical aspects of automation and IT introduction contributes to more efficient transfer of knowledge into practice and mastering eventual negative effects. D - DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED IMPLEMENTATION TECHNOLOGY The most notable development result refers to the PLC co-processor module SPAC20, which was developed for the Mitsubishi Electric Europe, entirely on the basis of own know-how. The experience has been utilised for the development of a prototype system for quality assessment of vacuum cleaner motors in company Domel, Železniki. Based on that, a high performance, fully automatic quality end-test unit is going to be implemented on the production line so that the start-up is expected by the end of the year.