OMAC, Moving Forward!

Last month I attended the ARC Conference and OMAC Users Group meeting in Orlando. I couldn’t help but thinking about all the changes that happened to the OMAC Users Group over the years. I had the privilege of working with several very good end user companies and excellent people in the establishment of the group in the late 90’s. It started as a group of end user companies getting together to drive command standards and common ways of doing things. I don’t think the goal has changed but the organization structure certainly had evolved over the years.

I left the OMAC Board of Directors and was not as active in most of the OMAC activities four years ago when OMAC went under the umbrella of ISA. My departure from OMAC had nothing to do with the ISA association and was more related to the changes of my job functions at that time. However, the group changed from an ad hoc, loosely connected group to a more corporate-like organization with more structure and financial responsibility. I certainly understand the necessity of the change in order to reduce potential liability exposure for the officers of the organization, and I am not against the change. But I felt that the group might have lost a bit of its “no restriction, we can get together and do what is necessary to be done” kind of “Free-spirit” attitude.

I was surprised to find out that OMAC is moving to be independent again. The separation from ISA may be a financial-driven decision, but I feel like the group is energized again. Under the leadership of Boeing and P&G, OMAC has accomplished quite a lot the past years - the release of PackML standard and implementation guide, adoption of STEP-NC standards, and implementation of standard Machine Tool Subprograms, etc. With the new structure and acceptance of technology supplier representation on the board, I believe the OMAC Users Group will move into the new phase of implementing in addition to defining standards.

Mitsubishi has been a corporate member of OMAC for the past two years and is committed to implement the PackML standard. We are excited that we will be able to help OEMs jump start their effort in implementing the PackML standard by providing PackML function blocks and modular program templates. I am convinced that our efforts together with the efforts of other suppliers will accelerate the adoption of PackML standard, just as what OMAC has envisioned.