John Kowal, Market Development Manager at B&R USA, represents the interests of global machine and system manufacturers in the packaging industry on the OMAC board of directors.

05/05/2010

John Kowal, longstanding member of the OMAC (Organization for Machine Automation and Control) and Market Development Manager for B&R USA, was elected to a 3-year term on the OMAC board of directors during the group's annual meeting at the ARC Automation Forum in Orlando, Florida.

Kowal's participation in OMAC began in early 1995 as director of the association promoting the introduction of the IEC 61491 motion network standard. "Thanks to the efforts of its members, the OMAC has been successful defining global technology standards for the packaging industry and establishing competitive strategies for machine and system manufacturing," explains John Kowal.

Through his activities in the OMAC, Kowal has contributed greatly in past years to establishing international standards. For example, the OMAC member promoted the proven ANSI standards and supported PLCopen, in particular for implementation of the IEC 61131-3 standard (a global standard for industrial controller programming). In 1999 Kowal helped establish the OMAC Packaging Workgroup, where he served on the executive committee for several years. Today, the OMAC Packaging Workgroup provides a valuable platform for exchange between technology suppliers in the packaging industry.

Around 500 members make the OMAC an organization with worldwide recognition in the area of machine automation and manufacturing.