CORBA group approves 14 object specs

InTech, Oct 1998

Helsinki, Finland-The Object Management Group (OMG) has formally approved 14 technologies. All are now available for industry use or will be soon, OMG says.

The technologies include Objects-by-Value; Printing Facility; IDL-to-Java Mapping; Java-toIDL Mapping; Mobile Agents Revision; Lexicon Query Service; Person Identification Service; Currency Specification; PDM Enabler Specification; Notification Service; IDL/Java Revision 1.1; C Revision; Interop 1.2 Revision; and the Core Revision.

Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., OMG supports Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), an object technology seen as a competitor to Microsoft's Component Object Model.

In addition, the OMG Platform Technology Committee has sent out two technologies for final vote, DCE/CORBA Interworking and Firewall (for security). The Domain Technology Committee sent out Workflow (manufacturing) and Task and Sessions (common business objects) for final vote. Additionally, the Domain Technology Committee also issued an Encounter Management RFI (health care) and the Release for Production RFP (manufacturing).

"OMG only approves specifications that are or will shortly become commercially available," said Jason Matthews, president and CEO of Genesis Development Corp., an OMG board member. "This is the kind of openness that the process industry needs to supply it with the tools to build distributed systems that meet their requirements now."

The OMG meeting was hosted by Nokia Communications. The next meeting of the OMG technology committees will be held in Seattle and hosted by Boeing.

OMG has international marketing offices in Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. Their Internet site is located at www.omg.org.

Semiconductor unit asked to standardize Profibus DP

Mountain View, Calif.-The Profibus Trade Organization (PTO) is pursuing standardization for the Profibus DP industrial communications protocol for semiconductor manufacturing through the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) organization.

Profibus DP, based on EN 50170, is a protocol for digital communications in plantwide automation systems. The PTO claims that more than 280 manufacturers supply more than 1,450 Profibus-compatible field devices.

SEMI, based in Mountain View, Calif., is a global trade association representing more than 2,000 members in the semiconductor and flatpanel display equipment and materials industries. Michael Bryant, PTO executive director, said that SEMI's Sensor Bus Committee would oversee the Profibus DP standard process.

Kodak beating its target on ISO 14002 compliance

Rochester, N.Y.-Eastman Kodak Company is running ahead of schedule in meeting a voluntary company goal of bringing its manufacturing facilities worldwide into compliance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14002 environmental standards.

"When the standards were announced, Kodak's HSE (health, safety, environment) Management Council set a goal that all of our manufacturing sites would be registration-ready, at the very least, for ISO 14000 by the end of 1998," said Richard Poduska, Kodak's director of health, safety, and environmental affairs for worldwide manufacturing. "We are running well ahead of schedule," Poduska said. "Four plants have achieved certification, three others are in the process and expect to be certified by year-end, and all the others are on track to be registration-ready by the end of the year."

A year ago, the BASO Precision Optics facility in Taiwan became the first Kodak plant to achieve ISO 14000 certification. Since then, Kodak's plants in Chalon, France, and Annesley, England, have been certified.

On May 7, Kodak's manufacturing plant in Windsor, Colo., became the first facility in that state to attain ISO 14000 registration.

Just like the ISO 9000 standards pertaining to quality, many business leaders say ISO 14000 certification will benefit companies who achieve it. Some believe it will become "table stakes" for companies marketing products in environmentally conscious parts of the world.

Kodak's effort is going beyond manufacturing. The company plans to seek ISO 14000 registration for its corporatewide health, safety, and environment management system in 1998. "There aren't many companies trying to bring their corporate system in line with these standards," said Kodak vice president R. Hays Bell, director of health, safety, and environment. A key benefit is that the process requires a company or unit to put its procedures in writing and to document everything, he said.

"That takes time," said Bell, "but it's really important. Having procedures clearly spelled out ensures continuity and consistency over the years."

Take the plunge and keep swimming

Beyond ISO 9000: How to sustain quality in a dynamic world, by William Stimson; American Management Association, New York, N.Y., 1998; 212/903-8083; hardcover; 368 pp.; $35.00. ISBN: 0-8144-0392-1

This is a fact: ISO 9000 certification is necessary to play in the global business environment. Your customers are going to require it of you, your operation, and those with whom you deal, sooner than you might expect.