Fourteen North American and European private and public organisations have joined forces to establish an initiative that will aim to enhance the establishment and use of shared information for full-life cycle product support of aerospace, defence, and other complex industrial systems and products. The Boeing Company, British Aerospace PLC (BAe), Lockheed Martin Government Electronic Systems, Marconi Electronic Systems, Rolls-Royce PLC, the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Baan Company, FAIR information services, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF), LSC Group Ltd., the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence / Det Norske Veritas, SAAB AB and Parametric Technology Corporation and Saab Aerospace AB announced today that they have jointly formed PLCS, Inc. as a collaborative venture. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is also sponsoring this effort with funding and technical support. Building on a proposal from the International CALS Congress, the listed sponsors have joined forces to launch a 3-year project to accelerate the development and implementation of International Standards that address the information needed for full life cycle product support. "We see PLCS as a keystone in the development of our policies for Integrated Logistic Support and driving down our equipment support costs. It will enable us to contract against an open, neutral and commercial ISO support data standard," said Group Captain Fred Church, HQ Defence Logistics Organisation, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD). "We see a need to develop a data standard that includes all phases of the product lifecycle. Marconi believes that the PLCS initiative presents an opportunity to accelerate the development and widespread acceptance of an industry standard to meet those needs," said Sean Hellett, Director, Engineering Process, Marconi Electronic Systems. "As the cost of ownership becomes ever more significant to the decision to buy, the implementation of standards created by PLCS, Inc. will become critical to organisations as they seek to sell and support their products into the global market," said Program Manager, John Dunford, PLCS, Inc. Based on the established techniques of the ISO STEP standard, the PLCS Initiative seeks to provide global agreement on the definition and communication of the information needed by users to plan and execute support for complex, long life assets such as aircraft, ships, and large industrial plants. The work will take full advantage of current STEP standards and work performed by the four major STEP Centres to develop an open architecture for PDM software. Areas to be addressed by the initiative include Life Cycle Configuration Management and Change Control, Support Engineering, Inventory Management and the Conduct of Maintenance and Usage Reporting. About PLCS, Inc. Incorporated in Delaware, U.S.A. during September 1999, PLCS, Inc. is an organisation established by leading private and public sector organisations with the objective of developing and promoting standards related to supporting the complete life cycle of products. The PLCS initiative is managed within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) framework, and ISO/TC184/SC4/WG3/T8 is the responsible ISO Working Group. PLCS, Inc. headquarters is in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A. Organisations interested in sponsoring and participating in PLCS, Inc., or who require additional information can either obtain addition information at www.plcsinc.org or contact the following: Howard Mason British Aerospace PLC P.O. Box 87 Farnborough Hants, GU14 6YU United Kingdom Tel: +44 1252 383129 Fax: +44 1252 384324 Howard.mason@bae.co.uk King G. Yee Boeing Commercial Airplane Group P.O. Box 3707 M/C 6H-AF Seattle WA 98124 United States of America Tel: +1 425 237-3401 Fax: +1 425 237-3428 King.g.yee@boeing.com ots Original Text Service: PLCS, Inc. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Howard Mason of British Aerospace PLC, +44 1252 383129; fax: 44 1252 384324; or Howard.mason@bae.co.uk; King G. Yee of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, 425-237-3401, fax: 425-237-3428, or King.g.yee@boeing.com Web site: http://www.plcsinc.org