Same thing in English, even if the origin is French.

At least two explanations of the expansion:
1) Le GRAFCET (GRAphe Fonctionnel de Commande des étapes et Transitions)

2) The «Sequential Function Chart», defined in the I.E.C. 848 Standard («Preparation of function charts for control systems» International Electrotechnical Comission Publication 848) inherits from the French item GRAFCET. What is it, where does it come from, where does it go ?
In 1975, fourty French-speaking researchers and industrial managers involved in complex discrete system control, used to meet every two months to compare and investigate models and methods for building sequential system control. They gathered their own experience : seventeen techniques were then used. Some used empirical questionnaries. Other used technological modules model. Still other used pure theoretical model derived from State Machine or Petri Nets. They decided to build a custom model, easier than actual ones, and more suitable to complex system and particulary manufacturing systems. After two years of hard and laborious meetings, talks, chats, and studies, they came to propose a model called GRAFCET. This ***name came from «graph» because the model had a graphic basis, and AFCET (Association française de cybernétique économique et technique)*** from the scientific association which supported the work. The basic concepts of this discrete system model where, and remains today, quite clear and simple : the «step», the «action», the «transition» and the «condition associated to transition».