In a recent conversation with Doug Gray, engineering project manager at Coors, on the subject of automation technology, a number of issues and concerns about packaging machinery automation and integration surfaced.

Paraphrased, Gray's comments sounded something like this:

I'd like to raise awareness among packaging machinery OEMs that they really must understand the importance of the standards-based initiatives that groups like the OMAC Packaging Workgroup and Make2Pack are pushing.

Some OEMs just don't get it, and that presents problems when we set out to install a new packaging line. If, for example, the line involves six major OEMs and two of them don't appreciate the value of a standards-based approach that results in added cost to us. Suppose the OEM that doesn't get it is the maker of a case packer. If the PLC code on that packer is the same as it's been for 20 years, that machine won't sing and dance along with all the other new machines on the line. That case packer OEM is just selling me a packer. They're not looking holistically at how the whole line is going to work.

By Pat Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World