Such was the response of industry analyst Bob Mick, ARC Advisory Group, to the news that the Open Applications Group, Inc. and ISA-SP95 have announced their intention to converge standards for manufacturing interoperability. The groups are collaborating on development of integration standards for process, discrete, and mixed-mode manufacturers. ISA-SP95 has started this effort by including a portion of the OAGIS (Open Applications Group Integration Standards) in its soon-to-be-published ANSI/ISA-95 Part 5 – Business to Manufacturing transactions standard.
When asked if packaging will be impacted by the proposed convergence of OAGi and ISA standards, Mick had this to say: “All operations, including packaging, should gain as this convergence of standards takes place.”