With testimonials from food industry leaders such as General Mills and equipment manufacturers such as Douglas Machine, equipment featuring OMAC Plug-and-Pack attributes is becoming more common in the food industry. Other machine builders implementing the PackML state model and various OMAC guidelines include Campbell Wrapper, MARKEM and Nordson. Automation technology suppliers supporting these implementations include Schneider, Siemens, Rockwell and Bosch Rexroth.

The annual general meeting of the OMAC Plug-and-Pack Workgroup drew more than 60 people at PACK EXPO Las Vegas in October. According to OMAC, steady progress continues on PackTags Version 2.0, which defines PackML tag names, PackTag variants to allow compatibility with a broader range of legacy PLCs, PackTag fault codes, and integration with the developing European Weinstephaner standards.

OMAC stands for Open, Modular Architecture Controls. The OMAC Plug-and-Pack Workgroup is refining its mission to address business requirements through a broader range of advancements in packaging automation. In addition to General Mills, food company members include Nestle, Hershey Foods, SAB Miller and Unilever.
For more information visit www.omac.org