The biggest application is probably closed-loop PID temperature control. Such a control loop doesn't take much of a CPU but it definitely exceeds the capabilities of something like a 555 timer.
Unfortunately it looks like all the figures are 404 on the article, fortunately IA seems to have them https://web.archive.org/web/20201112004309/https://www.elect...
Edit: Bit of a funny aside; the editor who wrote the subtitle incorrectly identifies the P in PID as "Peripheral" even though the article correctly states it is "Proportional" in the fourth paragraph.