Our May 20 Packaging Automation Forum focused on trends and developments that hold great promise for the packaging profession. But one worrisome note echoed repeatedly in the day's proceedings: that little thing called skills erosion. First it was touched on by keynote speaker David Atherton, director of TIMQ & supply chain engineering at Unilever. He called the skills gap "the biggest problem facing us as we go forward. I see it as mission critical."rnA few sessions later, Procter & Gamble's Rob Aleksa sounded the same refrain. Aleksa, who is corporate machine control section head at P&G, wants to see the educational institutions in this country pay much more attention to mechatronics, which he describes as a science-based focus on machine dynamics from a multidisciplinary standpointrnthat includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and modeling analysis. "We need to influence our educational institutions," said Aleksa.rnMembers of the audience chimed in, too. Educator James Higley of Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, IN, reminded everyone that his school, in cooperation with the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute, is sponsoring a program beginning this Fall in Mechatronics Engineering Technology.
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