Deciding the Future of OMAC

波音公司的制造工程集团是一个完美的主持人，是由开放式模块化架构控制或OMAC，用户组赞助的第一届年度OMAC集成研讨会。11月28日至29日活动是在埃弗雷特，洗涤的飞行设施的未来举行。其中一个亮点是集会建筑物的巡回演出，新的波音787梦想飞机被组装。该集团还看到了777个装配线和767线的一部分。

The Symposium title was "Bridging the Gap between the Discrete and Process Industries." Perhaps the closest presentation on that topic came from Dan Seger, co-chair of the Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society’s ISA SP88.05 committee and a principal engineer at Rockwell Automation Inc. His presentation was a clear and informative picture of how the committee has taken the work reflected in the ISA88 batch process standard and expanded it to be generic enough to encompass discrete (machine) automation, as well as process and batch.

ISA88 part 5 is known as Make2Pack or more formally, Modular Concepts for Automated Systems. The focus of work was on standard states and names for equipment modules and control modules. Another objective was to push object-oriented programming. The draft document is out to the full committee for review, with the committee vote expected in mid-2008 and ISA adoption as a standard hoped for before the end of the year.

Getting comfortable

这项工作的重要性是，技术提供商将在模板和工具中感到舒适的建筑，以帮助原始设备制造商（OEM）和其他设计师在这是一项成品标准时采用原则。

A clear end-user view of standardization came in a presentation by Rob Aleksa, an engineer with Procter & Gamble's corporate engineering group. Here are a couple of his arguments. If someone has designed something already, why should everyone have to reinvent it every time? Answer--develop standards to capture best practices. He also stated, "If you build on standards, then you have more time to innovate."

P&G wants standard definitions of machine states, object-oriented programming and code that is encapsulated and placed in libraries. When asked about how P&G implements the strategy, Aleksa responded, “You can't just spring the concepts on an OEM in mid-project. Engineers work with technology providers to educate OEMs on the value that standards adoption has for them.”

Boeing's David Odendahl, in a presentation titled "Swimming Upstream with Your Friends," talked specifically about the company's adoption process of the STEP-NC standards (for STandard for the Exchange of Product model-Numerical Controller, a programming interface for NC controls). His points about how to get projects moving were instructive. Develop friends, avoid jargon, develop an effective "elevator pitch," get past the gatekeeper and be positive were his important points, but just as important was his passionate attitude.

决定未来

聚会的一个重要部分让参与思考Omac的未来。波音的史蒂夫大老解释，然后领导了“路线表演”会议，其中与会者思考OMAC在未来可能工作的需求，解决方案和产品。这些想法是编制和整理的。该小组在最终日下午的下午优先考虑它们。新的OMAC委员会现在已经在确定如何实施思想时删除其工作。下一个OMAC研讨会将于北卡罗来纳州Okuma的下年11月。


OMAC
www.omac.org.