Page 1 - Welcome Page 2 - Update Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines |
* Welcome * Welcome to 2PLM, an e-zine distributed about every two weeks. This issue includes :
by Roger Tempest So much has been written about PLM that it may seem strange to suggest that we do not know much about it. However, if you step back and ask: "What exactly do we know?", then some surprising gaps in our knowledge are revealed. PLM knowledge currently falls under three headings: generic, proprietary, and unformalised. None of these types is as useful as it could be. Generic knowledge is the background level of understanding that has been evolved simply through everyday work in the PLM area. It is what "everyone knows" about PLM, and is general and imprecise. Proprietary knowledge is often excellent, but has as many variations as there are vendors and consultancies that purvey it. The third, 'Unformalised' category is what the user implementors and their teams know amongst themselves, but has never been captured or built upon. This is a bad situation for users, because it can be difficult (or impossible) to find the information or tools that they need from the mixed array of options available to them. It is also bad for the vendors and service providers, because without industry-agreed reference points, users take much longer in the decision process before moving forward. What we need is formalised PLM knowledge that is out in the open, where everyone can refer to and use it. It does not need to be encyclopaedic, nor to supersede anything that already exists. Rather, it needs to be concise, neutral, well-written, and to cross-reference easily with other sources. The PLMIG aims to achieve this through the PLM User Initiative (see 2PLM December 15 2008), concentrating on tools and standards called for by users themselves, including such themes as:-
The themes listed above were generated by the PLM User Forum launch in November (2PLM February 02 2009). The PLMIG would be interested in feedback to endorse these or to suggest other areas that should be covered. The scope of the User Initiative will cover Europe and the USA, and may be ported to other regions. If you feel your company might participate in the PLM User Initiative then write to userinitiative@plmig.com for a copy of the 8-page User Forum Overview document, which outlines the User Forum results. You can keep informed about, and interact with, the User Initiative through PLMIG membership via membership@plmig.com. Roger Tempest is co-founder of the PLMIG. 
* Two Products in the News * Two products have been in the news in recent days - Q790 and CERN's LHC. Both have a PLM story to tell. Q790 is an end-of-lfe story. Q790 was previously known as the Clemenceau, a French aircraft carrier taken out of service in 1997. Dismantling the hull for scrap was never going to be easy. It was known that there was a large amount of asbestos on board - variously estimated at between 50 and 250 tons. A failed attempt to dismantle Q790 in Turkey was followed by a decision to dismantle it in India. Q790 left Toulon, France at the end of 2005 to be broken up at Alang in India. Several weeks later it was refused entry to India. Q790 was then towed 10,000 miles back to France. It berthed in Brest in May 2006, awaiting a decision about its future. The BBC reported on February 8, 2009 that Q790 had arrived from Brest at its final resting place - Teesside, North England - where it is to be dismantled and recycled at Graythorp, Hartlepool. The vessel was said to contain 700 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated materials. CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a beginning-of-lfe story. According to a February 9, 2009 BBC report, the LHC could be switched back on in September 2009. That would be about a year after it shut down on 19 September 2008, 9 days after it was turned on. The cause of the shutdown was an electrical fault in one of the connectors linking one of the 1200 superconducting magnets that accelerate sub-atomic particles around the LHC. Apparently this triggered the release of helium gas within one of the magnets. Valves that should have released the gas pressure couldn't cope with the sudden build-up of helium. That led to an uncontrolled release which knocked one of the magnets forward, pushing it onto the magnet in front, dislodging it. In total, 53 superconducting magnets were damaged. Details CERN had previouly said they expected the $5.4bn machine to be repaired by November 2008, but then pushed the date back to June 2009, before the latest delay. The BBC also reported that Cern underestimated equipment and engineering costs when it set out its original budget. Expenditure on the machine and experimental areas has risen by more than half since 1996. |
