The standards effort aiming to unify and streamline connections from continuous process control and batch control into discrete packaging re-energized recently. Progress on Make2Pack and ISA’s S88.05 included increased attention to its packaging roots with help from OMAC PackML members, better explanation of the effort, clarification in terms, and resumption of monthly in-person meetings.

According to telephone/Web and in-person committee meetings in March and April, Make2Pack chairman David A. Chappell said goals include picking up the pace, engaging more participants, and ensuring the standard continues to gain interest through demonstration efforts and is eventually adopted.

Using the S88.05 modular unified software design concepts can result in 50% savings in development time and engineering resources for new systems and line modifications, with greater preservation and reuse of intellectual assets. The operational visibility and improved control will also improve recovery time from system upsets.

Progress in March and April included agreement for OMAC efforts to team up with ISA-88 Part 5 standards group to ensure work is complementary. Eventually documents must and will converge. Chappell noted that an OMAC PackML technical report is a companion effort to Part 5 workgroup efforts. “We’ve heard concern that efforts have become more process in orientation and packaging is losing out. The intent is for the resulting standard to meet packaging and process needs to show how abstract standards apply to the real world.”

Once the group agrees on the informative language, normative language should follow, broken down into conformance and compliance. “All of this will lead to great things in near future with ability for systems to interact and intercommunicate without significant engineering effort,” Chappell says.

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