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he Open Modular Architecture Controls Users’ Group (OMAC), an ISA organization, has announced that it will be hosting a pavilion at ISA EXPO 2005, to be held October 25-27, 2005 in Chicago, Ill. The pavilion will feature state-of-the-art technology and exhibits involving manufacturing infrastructure, packaging machinery, and machine control systems. It will complement several meetings and presentations that OMAC will be holding at ISA EXPO 2005.
“The addition of the OMAC Pavilion is a significant development for ISA EXPO. The technologies and exhibits that will be showcased in the pavilion add value for our attendees, and OMAC’s overall goals of aiding industry in the successful development and application of automation technologies aligns perfectly with the goals and purpose of ISA EXPO and ISA as a society,” said Jeff Hanson ISA EXPO 2005 Host Committee Chair.
OMAC was formed to create an organization through which companies could work together to: establish a repository of open architecture control requirements and operating experience from users, software developers, hardware builders and OEMs to satisfying common use requirements; collaborate with all World groups in pursuit of a common international set of standards; promote open architecture control development among control builders; and derive common solutions collectively for both technical and non-technical issues in the development, implementation, and commercialization of open architecture control technologies.
OMAC’s recent merger with ISA--The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society-- spurred the development of a pavilion at ISA EXPO. OMAC Board Chair Andy McDonald of Unilever remarked of the merger, “OMAC has been blessed with the active participation of a dedicated group of volunteers from numerous end user companies, automation suppliers, and OEM’s over its past eight years or so of informal existence. We are delighted that we are now affiliating with such a respected and established organization as ISA. It will help OMAC achieve even more success in establishing guidelines in areas such as packaging, computerized numerical control, and manufacturing architecture.”