Gary interviews John Dyck in this episode. John is Chairman of MESA International, the association for Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions. He discusses the new directions for MESA, the reasons that this software area is important to manufacturers and the new and exciting format for the association's gathering in the spring of 2010.

Gary interviews Lee Lane, business director, controller and visualization business, Rockwell Automation about what makes programmable automation controllers (PACs) different from programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in this series on control.

Back from vacation and a couple of trips Gary recounts his Middle East vacation (yes it was quite safe where he was). He recaps the ABB Automation and Power World conference, the Packaging Automation Forum and offers his point of view on the rumored Emerson acquisition of Rockwell. Aren't rumors great? Plus other news from the world of automation.

Gary Mintchell talks with Keith Updike, managing director of BBK--a manufacturing consulting firm--about Lean Thinking. The discussion includes ideas of implementing Lean and a vision of what a Lean Lifestyle entails.

Gary takes a look back at 2008 and ahead to 2009. Changes in automation supplier leadership are noted, and he exhorts listeners to promote the economic need for manufacturing to regain prominence in the United States.

Joe Grove, vice president of engineering at OSSID, a Pro Mach company, joins Gary for this discussion of how a packaging industry equipment manufacturer can use new technology along with in depth customer research to redesign machinery to achieve a competitive advantage and give customers added value.

Gary reports from Pack Expo. Thoughts on automation suppliers competing for OEM business, the recent spate of government bailouts and the upcoming Safety Automation Forum.

The HTML of process control. Gary interviews Jonas Berge, Director of PlantWeb Consulting for Emerson Process Management in Singapore. He discusses EDDL (electronic device description language), describing what it is, how it is used and the overall system from intelligent instruments to how the information is displayed in a client computer. More information is available at www.eddl.org.

Gary reviews trips to the Emerson Global Users Exchange and WonderWorld conferences. He offers thoughts on changes at Rockwell Automation.

Gary interviews Geoff Wickens, systems solutions manager for Endress + Hauser and a member of the marketing committee of the FDT Group. Wickens explains what FDT does and why it is of value for users of instrumentation and asset management systems.