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Edited by: Greg Winchester, NEMA ,CD14258 Editor, gre_winchester@nema.org .19-21 November 1996
International Robotics and Factory Automation Center (IROFA)--Tokyo, Japan
Jim Nell, WG1 Convener, opened the meeting at 0900 on 19 November 1996. Attending were:
Jean-Jacques Michel France David Shorter UK Yoshiro Fukuda (Host) Japan Hiromasa Murano Japan Kazuaki Iwata Japan (19-20 November only) Nobumasa Nakano Japan (20 November only) Koichi Kishimoto Japan (20 November PM only) Jim Nell Convener Greg Winchester SC5 Secretary
The minutes of the April 1996 WG1 meeting held in Rosslyn, USA, was accepted as distributed (as WG1 N363). A report (distributed as WG1 N369) summarizing the special WG1 editing meeting in July 1996 was also acknowledged.
The agenda, distributed as WG1 N367, was approved with the addition of an item to discuss planning for future WG1 work.
Jim Nell then stated that the primary task for this meeting would be to review the country comments submitted with the CD 14258 ballot. Other tasks to be addressed at this meeting would be the project plan for the requirements for a generalized enterprise-reference architecture and methodology (GERAM), and an enterprise-representation strategy that will define the standards that are appropriate for WG1 to produce.
David Shorter noted that WG1 has not been active for nearly a year. While there are a number of projects to be worked on, the WG is dormant because the European Commission has not yet released the necessary funding. When funds become available, WG1 would begin to work on projects involving the execution of integration services and a practical guide to enterprise modelling. It was finally noted that WG1 proposed projects are listed on CEN TC310's web site.
Jim Nell noted that materials and resolutions stemming from the September 1996 workshop have now been posted on the workshop's web site (http://www.nist.gov/workshop/jtc1-96/). It was felt that nothing from the workshop was of direct or immediate impact on WG1, but that one presentation made by Prof. Hiraoka entitled Virtual Manufacturing Environment as a Reference Model for Standardization might be of interest to WG1. Greg Winchester indicated he would circulate this paper to WG1.
Mr. Koichi Kishimoto, Toshiba Corporation and Vice Chair of the JOP Steering Committee, presented the status of the recently formed JOP Group. JOP intends to establish an open-manufacturing environment based on object-oriented factory models, to define open-communication specifications for the shop floor, and to define open-controller specifications for factory automation. JOP's goals are to make industrial users able to build, operate, and maintain manufacturing systems easily and to make de facto standard products usable in a shop-floor environment. Approximately 30 organizations representing vendors, users, and academia are currently involved in JOP.
Greg Winchester, SC5 Secretary, reported on the results of recent balloting of two WG1-related projects. The ballot for CD 14258, Concepts and Rules for Enterprise Models, was successful and the document will be registered as a DIS pending resolution of country comments which will be addressed at this meeting. The ballot for the "GERAM" New Work Item Proposal (Requirements and Methodology for Enterprise-Reference Architectures) was also successful, with the following countries indicating their participation in the project: Australia, France, Germany, Korea, Switzerland, UK, and USA. Greg Winchester also reported that the USA has nominated Em dela Hostria to replace Ed Kelly as SC5 Chairman in April 1997.
WG1 reviewed technical and editorial comments from China, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and USA. It was reported that France's response to the CD ballot had been delayed, but that it would be a "yes" vote with comments similar in nature to those submitted by Japan. It was then noted that the comments from China, Sweden, and some of the USA comments, were philosophical in nature that can only be addressed by SC5. Greg Winchester indicated that he would raise these philosophical issues (mainly relating to the suitability of "meta-standards" as International Standards as opposed to Type 3 Technical Reports) at the upcoming SC5 plenary meeting in April 1997. WG1 did advise the SC5 Secretary that it believed there was sufficient normative content in the document to warrant advancement to the status of International Standard.
It was also noted that some of the USA technical comments, while having merit, are so complex in nature and/or have already been debated for several years by WG1 that no timely consensus could be reached on their resolution. Thus, for these types of comments, it was decided they should be deferred for consideration at the next revision of the IS (i.e., the USA will submit them as FDIS ballot comments).
WG1 and the SC5 Secretary then proceeded to document responses to each country comment, which will appear in the results of CD ballot voting (which will indicate registration of the document as a DIS) to be circulated by the SC5 Secretary in December 1996. Greg Winchester, as editor, indicated he would make the necessary changes to the draft and circulate it to WG1 for confirmation before the document is issued for DIS ballot.
WG1 noted the "no" vote from Japan (the only country voting negatively) and discussed the Japanese concerns with this project. Japan was concerned that the scopes of the NP and of CD 14258 were unclear and perhaps overlapping. It was felt this was a valid concern when one considers that an enterprise-reference architecture and a high-level enterprise model could be the same thing. WG1 noted that the essence of ISO 14258 is concepts for models of manufacturing systems including the life cycle of systems but that, while annex A of ISO 14258 supports extensibility to project issues, the GERAM requirements relate to a much richer architecture that includes projects. It was then agreed that it would be desirable to extend the concepts in CD 14258 to include the project viewpoints of GERAM and the checklist items regarding the completeness of an enterprise-reference architecture cited in the NP. This extension (along with consideration of USA FDIS comments) would be done for the next significant update of ISO 14258.
WG1 then noted the Swiss ballot comments and accompanying documents relating to environmental issues faced by enterprises. It was agreed that these documents should be considered and, for the next WG1 meeting, an invitation will be extended to ETH (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) to participate in the work to help ensure proper handling of these issues.
Taking into account ISO-mandated project target dates, WG1 then drafted the following schedule for the development of the new "GERAM" standard:
February 1997--select editor; draft title, scope, table of contents; identify major issues and existing reference material;
April 1997 (in conjunction with SC5 plenary)--disseminate identified reference material; make drafting assignments; firm up table of contents; reconcile inputs (ISO 14258, comments to ISO 14258, reference documents, GERAM requirements);
July 1997--place contributions in document; begin first draft;
November 1997--develop second draft;
Early 1998--develop third draft;
April 1998 (in conjunction with SC5)--prepare first working draft
June 1998--submit working draft to SC5 Secretariat for CD ballot.
For the purposes of advancing the GERAM project, WG1 agreed to meet in conjunction with the next IFAC/IFIP Joint Task Force on Architectures meeting scheduled for February 1997 in Vienna, Austria. Thus, the following schedule of future meetings was tentatively set:
6-7 February 1997; Vienna, Austria (with the IFAC/IFIP Task Force)
7-9 April 1997; Frankfurt, Germany (with the TC184 SC5)
It was noted that the enterprise-representation domain for standards lacks both a definitive structure and a strategy for necessary standards. With the progress being made toward publication of CD 14258, it was felt that this structure and strategy needs to be revisited. WG1 members then discussed whether a top-level, enterprise-representation matrix is needed. Japan indicated a need for only two kinds of enterprise models: business-process (requiring a top-down approach) and manufacturing-process (requiring a bottom-up approach). Italy and France see a need for high-level models to assist small- and medium-sized companies with their interoperability issues. The UK saw a need for a framework to put all of these models in some kind of order. The following materials were then identified as being pertinent to the development of a standardization strategy:
In order to progress toward the development of an enterprise-representation matrix, it was agreed that these materials should be posted on the WG1 email exploder to allow WG1 members to consider and critique them.
Upon adjourning at 1400 on Thursday, 21 November 1996, WG1 members thanked IROFA Staff and the Japanese delegation for the outstanding arrangements and warm hospitality that made the WG1 meeting a success.
REPORTED BY: Greg Winchester