Leading organizations in both the public and private sectors have formed the Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS) Initiative to establish electronic commerce standards for product support. PLCS Inc. was established as a collaborative venture between companies like Boeing, British Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and government organizations like the UK and Norwegian Ministries of Defense. The US Department of Defense is also sponsoring this effort. The goal is to accelerate the development and implementation of international standards over 3 years to address the information needed across the full life cycle of products, including areas like configuration management, support engineering, and maintenance.

1. Leading Public and Private-Sector Organisations Sponsor the
Formation of the Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS) Initiative
PLCS Inc. to establish electronic-commerce standards for product support
London, England, 13 October, 1999 – 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, Det Norske Veritas (DNV),
FAIR information sServices, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF), LSC Group Ltd., the Royal
Norwegian Ministry of Defence, 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 Acting Program Manager,
John Dunford, PLCS Inc.
Based on the established techniques of the STEP standard, the PLCS Initiative seeks to provide

2. 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
three major STEP Centres to develop an open architecture for PDM software. Areas to be
addressed by the new standards include Life Cycle Configuration Management and Change
Control, Support Engineering, Inventory Management and the Conduct of Maintenance and
Usage Reporting.
About PLCS Inc.
Founded in September 1999, in Delaware, U.S.A, 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 Standards Organisation (ISO) framework, and
ISO/TC184/SC4/WG3/T8 is the responsible ISO Working Group. PLCS Inc. headquarters is in
Charleston, South Carolina, USA. 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
# # #