The metal finishing industry has been slow to recognise the usefulness of automatic control systems. Partly this is because the highly corrosive atmosphere in which we operate tends to be very unkind to electronic equipment, and has lead to some unreliability in the past. But today's solid state controls can be very reliable indeed provided that proper care is taken of the sensing elements. Good automatic controls, sensibly used can be a big money saver. This article discusses automatic controls, including temperature, current, pH, timing, and analytical controls.