An industrial controller that integrates with an external controller for improved control of an industrial machine or process and for coordinating internal motion control functions of the industrial controller with the control routines native to the external controller is disclosed. The industrial controller includes one or more internal motion control instructions, such as a jog, cam, follower, or gearing function. The industrial controller further includes an internal motion planner to generate commands for motor drives connected to the industrial controller to execute the internal motion control instructions or user provided motion control instructions in a control program. External vendors have also developed motion planners to generate motion commands, for example, for the axes on robotic equipment. The present invention includes an interface between motion commands and motor drives controlled by the industrial controller and the external motion planners to seamlessly integrate the external motion planner with the industrial controller.