Speaking from the heart (sidebar)

Andrew McDonald is Global Automation and Control Technology Manager for Unilever Home and Personal Care North America, in Trumbull, Conn.

As a current co-Chairman of the OMAC (Open Modular Architecture Controls) Users Group and an active participant within the OMAC Packaging Working Group, McDonald has been an advocate for the development and application of commercially available open information technologies as a path to maximum business benefit. His interests include quantifying and promoting the value of control and automation, particularly the benefits of standardization within business processes, as well as the link between automation and the broader context of business strategy.

McDonald was graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Aston University, in the United Kingdom, in 1986. He spent his early career with electrical and systems integrators before undertaking control engineering roles in various waste management and decommissioning projects within the UK nuclear industry. He led a flywheel energy storage system product development program for an international energy systems company, and later focused on batch process control in the pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods industry.

McDonald is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the UK-based Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). He is also an Executive member of the board that steers the IEE’s Control and Automation Professional Network.