SCRA Announces PDES, Inc. Celebration of 20 Years in Operation
November 26, 2008
CHARLESTON, SC – November 25, 2008 – PDES, Inc., one of the most successful collaborations among leading manufacturers, national governmental agencies, research organizations, and academia held its bi-annual Executive Board meeting at the Trident Research Center in Charleston this month to celebrate its 20th year in operation. SCRA and its ATI affiliate have served as the PDES, Inc. host contractors since its inception in 1988.
PDES, Inc., an international, member-supported consortium, accelerates the development and implementation of information standards that enable enterprise integration and product lifecycle management (PLM).
The mission of PDES, Inc. is to support model-based engineering, manufacturing, and sustainment. Testing of implementations and technical data exchange using the ISO 10303, commonly called STEP, is an integral part of the consortium.
The Board meeting agenda included acknowledgement of many significant PDES, Inc. contributions since 1988:
· PDES, Inc. has leveraged STEP as an enabler for efficiently transmitting technical data from designers to manufacturers. SCRA remains a significant contributor to the development of this standard, which is being used today by many of the largest manufacturers around the world to design, develop, and manufacture their products.
· The first production use of STEP enabled McDonnell Douglas to exchange C-17 aircraft configuration management data between its Long Beach and St. Louis facilities. The C-17 squadron in Charleston, South Carolina was the first to benefit from this utilization of STEP.
· Boeing utilized STEP on its 777 aircraft to exchange information among Boeing and the three engine manufacturers. STEP supported digital pre-assembly of the 777 interface between the engine and strut.
· The Eurofighter program integrated STEP into its production as BAE Systems, The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) and Alenia Aeronautica utilized STEP to share configuration management data for design.
· An important National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study was released that estimated the impact of imperfect inoperability in the U.S. automotive supply chain at more than $1 billion per year.
To see a timeline of additional PDES, Inc. accomplishments, go to http://pdesinc.org/mission.html.
“STEP is used in a wide diversity of industries and in millions of products every year,” said Robert Kiggans, Board Member and former General Manager of PDES, Inc. “The success and longevity of PDES, Inc. reflects how core SCRA competencies, including the development and proliferation of the digital enterprise and standards applications, are put into production,” said Bill Mahoney, SCRA CEO.
In attendance at the Board meeting were former Board Chairs Johnny Barnes, Vice President of Global IT Solutions and Standards and CTO at IBM; Robert Booth, General Director, Office of Technology Development & Supply Operations at General Motors Corporation; Brad Rigon, retired executive from McDonnell Douglas; and Jack Harris, PDES, Inc. executive-on-loan from Rockwell Collins, Inc., where he serves as Director of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Other organizations that are members of PDES, Inc. include:
· BAE Systems
· DoE/Sandia National Labs
· Boeing
· EADS Airbus
· The Georgia Institute of Technology
· IBM
· Lockheed Martin
· National Institute of Standards and Technology
· NASA
· Raytheon
· Rockwell-Collins
About PDES,Inc. (http://www.pdesinc.org)
PDES, Inc. is an international industry/government consortium committed to accelerating the development and implementation of standards that enable enterprise integration and PLM interoperability for its member companies.
About SCRA (http://www.scra.org/)
SCRA is a global leader in applied research and commercialization services with offices in Anderson, Charleston and Columbia, SC as well as in Washington, D.C. SCRA collaborates to advance technology. SCRA provides global technology-based solutions with assured outcomes on behalf of industry, government, and research universities.
