Minister opens three-day event at Qatar University

HE Dr al-Sada with officials and dignitaries at the opening ceremony. Left: Prof Abdelaziz BourasHE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada inaugurated the three-day IFIP WG5.1 12th International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management (IFIP PLM15), being organised and hosted by Qatar University College of Engineering (QU-CENG). The event will be held until tomorrow.The event is an international forum for researchers and practitioners interested in advancing integrated business and technical approach in the creation, management and dissemination of engineering data. It is held under the scientific umbrella of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) in partnership with Purdue University, University of Bremen and Technology University of Compiegne.  HE Dr al-Sada was joined by QU president Dr Hassan al-Derham, Qapco vice-chairman and CEO Dr Mohamed Yousef al-Mulla, Dolphin Energy Limited general manager Hassan al-Emadi, QNRF executive director Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, CENG dean Dr Rashid Alammari as well as QU officials, faculty, students and staff, and a number of experts and researchers in the field of information modelling and product lifecycle management. The conference, the “first-of-its-kind” in the GCC, aims to bring together researchers, developers and PLM users to share recent developments and advances in enterprise systems and to promote various sustainability areas of collaboration.Keynote speakers are Dr Vijay Srinivasan, chief of the systems integration division at National Institute of Standards and Technology; Prof Nashwan Dawood, director of the Technology Futures Institute at Teesside University; and Prof Henry XG Ming, director of the Shanghai Research Centre for Industrial Informatics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.Discussions focus on PLM in an era of manufacturing innovation, building information modelling (BIM) in the Qatari construction industry and future perspectives of PLM in China.The conference agenda comprises 15 scientific sessions in the form of presentations and discussion panels that address a wide range of topics related to product lifecycle management such as lifecycle cyber security; BIM; cyber-physical systems and cloud computing, standards and regulation; collaborative development architectures; lifecycle assessment and sustainability; and oil and gas plant lifecycle, among others. Commenting on the conference, Dr al-Derham said: “The conference aims at involving all stakeholders of the wide concept of PLM, hoping to shape the future of this new field and advance the science and practice of enterprise development.” Dr Alammari said: “This significant event brings together local and international participants to share experiences and discuss the many and varied issues related to product lifecycle management that address product inception through design and manufacture to service and responsible disposal.”MICT/ictQATAR chair professor at the CENG Department of Computer Science and Engineering and chair of the conference’s programme, Prof Abdelaziz Bouras, added: “It is a great and tangible opportunity for education and industry sectors to exchange ideas on critical issues and promote sustainable development and lifecycle vision.”