The organization that’s provided the OMAC (Open, Modular Architecture Control) Users Group with a professional Executive Director has run out of Federal funding. With government priorities having migrated strongly to security issues, the Louisiana Center for Manufacturing Sciences announced to the OMAC Users Group in April that it was no longer capable of funding the executive director position performed by Keith Campbell, recently retired director of automation and integration for Hershey Foods.
OMAC co-chairman Andy McDonald of Unilever recognized Campbell’s and the group’s accomplishments to date, saying "Without Keith’s leadership, we wouldn’t have come this far this fast. Now we are seeing a whole new wave of end users from the food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, home & personal care, and durables industries coming forward to take leadership positions in OMAC. What visionaries like Keith recognized is becoming clear to a new generation of CPG manufacturers."
The OMAC Users Group was founded in 1997 by manufacturing technology companies in automotive, aerospace and related metalworking industries to collectively promote development and adoption of open automation controls. OMAC Users Group membership is open to all manufacturing automation users, suppliers, system integrators and technology providers.
