We used to use a 74HC164 (serial to parallel shift register) for sequential control. You tie the data in to '1', then when you release the reset, you start clocking a '1' through the device. An XOR tied to two of the ouptut pins gives you a '1' for one clock pulse if tied to adjacent pins. A series of these gives you a series of '1's to sequence control of logic. This was how I clocked my digital tachometer to read and display 4 bytes from a Look Up Table (ROM) without using a micro, as they were expensive back then. But, since microcontrollers have come down in price and are readily available, the only reason to sequence logic using a sequencer is for learning how to sequence logic with a sequencer.