 Keith's
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Category: OMAC
Evolving strategies for packaging machinery specifications
February 20, 2012
Packaging machines have gone through three major periods of evolution, as have many end user's strategies for writing packaging machine specifications. Let's explore why you might consider changing your company's specification strategy....
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Update on Nestlé PackML Post from Packaging Automation Forum
April 29, 2011
Nestlé expanded upon their plan for OMAC's PackML at the 2011 Packaging Automation Forum being held today in Chicago. In a post a bit over two months ago, OnTheEdgeBlog published an interview with Dr. Bryan Griffen where he laid out the world's largest food company's thinking on the adoption of OMAC's body of work. Since Bryan reiterated much of that interview, today's post features only the significant updates....
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PackML World Tour Continues
March 31, 2011
The PackML World Tour is an initiative of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup in cooperation with the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute to explain the real business benefits of adopting PackML. Unlike past initiatives where consumer goods companies' engineers tried to sell the benefits of PackML, this time the executives of packaging machinery companies are speaking out in an effort to drive industry-wide adoption....
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Nestlé views on OMAC Packaging Workgroup- An Interview with Dr. Bryan Griffen
February 14, 2011
On February 9th, I had the opportunity to interview incoming co-chair of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup, Dr. Bryan Griffen, Engineering and Automation Group Manager with the Nestlé Product Technology Center Orbe. Bryan discussed his group's role at Nestlé, why Nestlé is committing to OMAC, how he expects OMAC deliverables to benefit their businesses around the world, and what his goals are for the coming year....
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PMMI and Nestle step up to the plate with OMAC Packaging Workgroup
February 11, 2011
The OMAC organization is being revitalized for 2011. After completing its divorce from ISA, the parent OMAC group has developed a new strategic plan. The Packaging Workgroup (OPW) has a new co-chair, Bryan Griffen from Nestle, to aid existing co-chair Rick Van Dyke from Pepsico-Frito Lay. And very significantly, PMMI has agreed to provide administrative assistance to OPW....
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Clarification on PackML
August 20, 2010
After a recent post in which I mentioned PackML, I received a response from Dave Chappell pointing out what has become a pervasive bit of confusion about the official ISA document that contains the PACKML guidelines. I was unaware of this situation and have been contributing to the confusion, so let's try to set the record straight....
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PackML continues to gain ground
February 26, 2010
I am sitting in the 8:30 AM OMAC session at the ARC Forum with a group of 35 packagers, machine builders and technology providers who share an interest in OMAC's PackML standard. Rob Aleksa of P&G is reviewing the business value of PackML for packaging lines and is about to review the recently published application guide for ISA TR088.05....
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PMMI and OMAC Packaging Workgroup should start dating
February 9, 2010
OMAC's brief marriage to ISA's Automation Federation is over. The divorce settlement is worked out and soon to be finalized. OMAC will be single again, and as an independent organization, will spend the coming months evaluating its future and may start dating again. My suggestion is for the OMAC Packaging Workgroup to seriously date PMMI....
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Will ISA take the wrong path yet again?
December 16, 2009
Automation engineers who have been fortunate enough to spend a portion of their careers in the areas of process, discrete, hybrid and IT are relatively rare. I am one who has enjoyed this variety of experience, which leads me and many of my colleagues with similar experiences to view the P&ID as equally important to each area. In my view, no automation project should be without a P&ID. A whole...
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OEE - Still a blur on the radar screen
May 29, 2009
Among the key performance indicators (KPI's) that grocery manufacturing executives think are most important, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is number four on the list after quality, cost and safety. Yet compared to the first three, there is little understanding of how to implement the OEE measurement. I believe this is yet another indication of the suits and the geeks failing to communicate....
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OMAC Packaging Workgroup establishes 2009 goals
February 5, 2009
A committee of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup met at the conclusion of the Orlando ARC Forum on sustainabie manufacturing to establish goals for 2009....
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Scouting PackExpo 2008
September 18, 2008
It will soon be time to jet off to Chicago for this year's installment of PackExpo. One hopes that every show of this size brings something new or exciting to the industry. This year's PackExpo should be no exception. Here are some things that I plan to be scouting for....
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OMAC should maintain a simple focus on packaging
February 25, 2008
At the annual OMAC Users Group meeting, held this month in Orlando, a discussion was generated on the topic of putting a more general face on OMAC by dropping its focus on packaging with regard to PackML and PackTags. The argument goes that since the technical product is elegant enough to be applied to other industries, it shouldn't be referred to as PackWhatever, implying that its use is limited to...
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Interchangeable parts - Why not software?
August 19, 2007
The concept of interchangeable parts is one that packaging machinery builders readily understand and depend upon every day. Not only are parts from a single manufacturer interchangable within a machine, but builders source custom parts from multiple manufacturers to control cost and schedule and generic parts are interchangeable across a host of different machines and devices. We have come to enjoy and expect that fasteners, shafts, gears, couplings, motors, valves,...
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OMAC Standards: Marketing ploy or value-adding?
June 25, 2007
With the price and scarcity of manufacturing labor, the future of manufacturing in America depends upon our ability to automate – Really Automate. Our ability to really automate depends upon making it simple to reliably automate and simple to reliably integrate our automation with our supply chains. Making it simple and reliable depends upon our adoption and use of standards like those under development by OMAC and the availability of...
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Getting technology education suited to packging - A how-to guide
May 18, 2007
Technology education in America has been driven by the automotive, metals, aerospace and petro-chemical industries. Certificate programs from organizations like ISA do a good job in preparing technicians for the petro-chemical industry. Programs from NCIST (National Center for Integrated Systems Technology) prepare technicians for employment in the automotive or metals industries. But where does one go for a certificate that prepares technicians for packaging and consumer packaged goods? The available...
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Community activism or tribalism for automation industry?
May 14, 2007
Automation professionals used to behave as a community. End users, technology providers and systems integrators would convene at industry-wide events, much like county fairs, to share ideas, best practices and lessons-learned....
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Are validated lines better lines?
April 30, 2007
How effective are pharmaceutical packaging lines? One would certainly think that the amount of time and money that is spent on validating a pharmaceutical packaing line would result in a line that runs better than a line that has not been subjected to all of this additional engineering, operations and quality control rigor. We hear that the validation costs of a line can exceed 2 to 3 times the cost...
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Small packaging machinery suppliers may be shut out of pharmaceuticals
March 11, 2007
Some packaging machinery manufacturers and systems integrators have shied away from pharmaceutical customers due to the burden of process and machinery validation. The costs of validation may exceed the costs of hardware and software, and going through the process is not for the faint-of-heart. Costs of 1.5 times the total automation cost have been reported for initial validation and changes to a validated process that may take 2 hours in...
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| About Keith Campbell |
| Leaders learn from the past while
looking to the future - and bring both to bear on the here
and now. This is the philosophy that has steered Keith Campbell's
30+ years in manufacturing. It has worked for him in operations,
maintenance, engineering, R&D, education, consulting and
professional organizations--and now he's putting it to work
for you--taking you to the edge of his thoughts on packaging
operations. |
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