Most industrial processes require rotation of the motors in forward and reverse directions for desired periods. One good example is the automated bottle filling plant. Here the bottles move on a conveyor belt. When the bottles come under the filler, the filler comes down (the motor attached with the mechanism rotates forward) and fills the bottle (the motor stops), then it goes up (the motor rotates in reverse direction) and stops until the next bottle arrives. For moving the filler up and down, the time of rotating the motor forward and reverse is calibrated and fixed. Also, the stop time of the motor is calibrated based on the time required to fill the bottle and the time before arrival of the next bottle.
A good domestic application is in washing machines. Once the timer is set to wash clothes, the motor automatically rotates forward and then backward for fixed periods (10 to 15 seconds) with small pauses in between.