PackML wasn’t the only OMAC news at Pack Expo. OMAC’s PackConnect team, led by Procter & Gamble’s Rick Van Dyke, has persuaded the SERCOS and Profibus standards organizations to begin reworking their protocols to increase interoperability for packaging machines. The goal is to develop the first open communication network that supports controller-to-controller servo position synchronization for packaging machines, vision systems, printing systems, adhesive applicators, and so forth, regardless of each machine’s make or model of controller.
Separately, the PackSoft team is seeking to define elements of a packaging-specific motion control programming language in cooperation with PLCopen, a vendor- and product-independent association supporting standardized approaches to machine control. Herman Rhoads, from Hershey Foods, was appointed as the new PackSoft team leader.
See the story that goes with this sidebar: Plug-and-pack a reality
