Question for the old Sysadmins

I've seen it still out in the wild for sortation control (pick, pack, route) systems in warehouses, especially older ones. The PLCs on the line that connect to each other and manage hardware like optical sensors, pusher arms, conveyors, etc, use it to talk back to a primary "control" computer that routes packages from various places on the floor and makes sure they don't get jammed up or run into each other. Especially back in the day, it made more sense to run coax along the entire packing line (which could be tapped as changes to the line were needed) versus having to do homeruns everywhere. Nowadays I think a lot of PLCs usually have two network jacks and function as two-port ethernet or fiber switches, or else hook into embedded switches on the line.