I decided not to attend this year’s PackExpo although it is in Chicago. I had to draw the travel time/dollar budget somewhere.
However, there was an interesting session yesterday. Niels Andersen, Schneider Electric’s vice president of global industry solutions, showed attendees how to benefit from packaging standards without replacing existing PLCs.
During the presentation, end users and OEMs, including CPG customers and machine builders, will learn how to implement the Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) PackML standard and achieve OEE functionality without having to rip and replace existing automation infrastructure. The solutions and techniques discussed propose to help end users reduce the cost of integration while allowing for continuous performance monitoring and improving overall equipment effectiveness.
“The OMAC PackML standard, traditionally implemented in a PLC, proposes a common way to represent machine status through a defined interface, which is essential for downtime analysis and OEE calculations,” Andersen said. “But not all PLCs have the necessary memory, CPU or communication capabilities to accommodate the standard. Therefore many CPG and OEM customers need new, easy-to-implement advanced solutions and techniques as an alternative to replacing their existing controllers. This presentation will explain what those alternatives are.”
