There are various drivers that can be used , all derived from the type of machine to be controlled, can range from drivers for discrete events, contrladores a PID , PLC variable and even safety PLC. Yohe I am seen in the industry as the most used Alen Bradley .
Many of the answers are talking about Control systems manufacturers but the matter of the question is the applicable control should depend of the controllable machine type. So, what is the matter for apply PID control to a industrial robot, or saying that Siemens Simatic is the very often applicated? Is it often applicated to a numerical milling machine?
let me say that the applicable controller is always depending of the control requirements and the type of machine.
There is no different conceptual structure in a PID controller from the loaded PID controller in a PLC, nor a logic configuration designed to control a melter regardless if Simatic, ABB, or any other manufacturer. The qestion is what type of machine must be controlled, then a control concept must be designed for, regardless of any manufacturer and control structure nor software, nor hrdware.
While the previous answers contain pretty good information, it might be difficult to classify them. A reason is, that the term controller is used very ambiguously in industrial automation.
It is used to name the algorithm of a closed loop control, where PID control ( actually only PI) is most widespread beside fuzzy, predictive and other control algorithms.
It is also used for microcontrollers inside sensors, actuators or robots executing AD conversion, network access etc.. In this field for example ARM controllers have been popular.
Moreover the term controller is used for PLCs, i.e. devices ranging from intelligent terminal modules to performant industrial computers to be mounted in a control cabinet. In this field Siemens, Rockwell and Mitsubishi are the global players with different shares in the regional markets (see http://www.arcweb.com/market-studies/Pages/plcs-programmable-logic-controllers.aspx, login required).
Finally, as also explained previously, the decision about the best fitting instrumentation depends on the application. Here, basically the domains of factory automation and process automation need to be distiguished.
In Industry mainly PLC and DCS are used because they are reliable and easier to operate and program.
The loop rates are applicable to process control.
But the controller should be selected according to application. For motor control and servo applications you should use a servo driver. To control and program this driver you can even use your computer or you can communicate it via ethercat with your main controller.
Siemens,ABB and Rockwell mostly known but there are also embedded controllers for more dynamic applications. Also DAQ devices are also capable of control (even PID loops) for 10 kHz loop rate.
Additionally with the previous answers, it's important to make a global evaluation of the plant who want to control after the: number I/O, sampling rate, complexity of control loop algorithm and communications protocol.
PLC: x1000-x10000 I/O, 1ms sampling rate, PID autotunning and fuzzy, ModBUS serial and TCP/IP...Siemens TCP/IP, OPC, etc... You must add local display and HMI.
Microcontrollers ARM, PIC, : x100 I/O, 0.01 ms sampling rate, usually not PID incorporated, communications serial and TCP/IP usually are predefined but not 100% ready (you must write some code), You must add local display and HMI.
DAQ board ( like NI+LabView): x1000 I/O, 0.001ms sampling rate, PID and a lot of algoritms and functions for control and HMI incorporated (like in Matlab/Simulink), and a lot of comunications functions. Additionally, the progam can be download on a lot of targets (laptop, industrial PC, etc.).
you can use labview program and it include many controller kinds. These controllers are explained in free example inside labview. These examples are so easy
I think you should think only about PLCs, mainly because they are popular among industrial practitioners. But why they are popular ? There are several arguments like : simplicity of programming them, they are scalable - you can add several modules to the CPU module, they have a lot of certificates, which are important for a service crew inside of a company.
The fact is that using several microplatforms like Arduino you can build a system with a similar functionality as in case of PLCs. In practice a problem is how fast are you able to build a whole control system and how reliable it will be i.e. what will be its average time of working without any failure.
Based on my own experience like a integrator of control system I definitely recommend you PLC as a control platform in an industry although PLC is more expensive. In domestic and/or laboratory applications or if you have enough time you can build control systems based on microplatforms.
In industrial Automation, machine automation, PLC are very popular, commonly used because of reliability, safety, easy of use, scalability and so on, however for more complex systems, PLC are used and inegrated with some other equipment that performs intensive control tasks, i.e. PID control so PLC´s performs sync tasks. And for even more complex systems (i.e. chemical process in an aluminium smelter) we use and program control algorithms on a SBC (pc104) using C/C++ because our particular needs.