"Eelco van der Wal, managing director of PLCopen, has expressed that PLCopen supports our efforts and is looking forward to cooperating with the OMAC Packaging Workgroup," says Hoppe.
The mission of the PackSoft team is to develop programming language guidelines for packaging machinery that will ease learning, support transportability of software across machine control platforms, and allow continuing innovation by all parties. The team envisions a common programming language for packaging machinery based on internationally recognized open standards.
PLCopen has similar goals, but rather than focusing specifically on packaging machinery, it seeks to establish programming standards across all machine types, regardless of industry. By cooperating with PLCopen and building upon its achievements, the PackSoft team saves valuable time and effort.
"Why start from scratch with PackSoft when a lot of what we need is already provided by PLCopen?" says Hoppe. "This way we avoid reinventing things that already exist. We take advantage of existing standards and then modify them to achieve packaging-specific results."
Hoppe says the spirit of cooperation between PackSoft and PLCopen is especially significant because it stimulates joint activity between one group chiefly active in North America, the OMAC Packaging Workgroup, and another chiefly active in Europe, PLCopen. A further benefit, says Hoppe, is that PLCopen is now preparing to publish addenda to its Version 1.0. "With this agreement in place, PLCopen will allow the PackSoft team to review these addenda before they are finalized," says Hoppe. "That means we can give our feedback to help shape future standards as they develop."
The bottom line? "We’ll all gain a more commonly accepted understanding of automation," says Hoppe.
