I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4906

To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work

with major manufacturing industries on an initiative of standards development and implementation for electronic enterprise integration.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 20, 2000

Mr. BARCIA (for himself and Ms. RIVERS) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Science

A BILL

To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with major manufacturing industries on

an initiative of standards development and implementation for electronic enterprise integration.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enterprise Integration

5 Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Over 90 percent of United States companies

2 engaged in manufacturing are small and medium3 sized businesses.

4 (2) Most of these manufacturers produce goods

5 for assemblage into products of large companies.

6 (3) The emergence of the World Wide Web and

7 the promulgation of international standards for

8 product data exchange greatly accelerated the move9 ment toward electronically integrated supply chains

10 during the last half of the 1990’s.

11 (4) A major Wall Street firm recently estimated

12 that the adoption of electronic commerce-based sup13 ply chains in various manufacturing industries can

14 reduce business costs from 10 percent to 40 percent.

15 (5) European and Asian countries are investing

16 heavily in electronic enterprise standards develop17 ment, and in preparing their smaller manufacturers

18 to do business in the new environment. European ef19 forts are well advanced in the aerospace, automotive,

20 and shipbuilding industries and are beginning in

21 other industries including home building, furniture

22 manufacturing, textiles, and apparel.

23 (6) If United States manufacturers are to re24 main competitive, they must match their overseas

25 competition by making sure that standards, includ-
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1 ing application protocols, developed for electronic

2 business in their industry worldwide reflect their

3 needs and the needs of their customers and sup4 pliers.

5 (7) Many American small and medium-sized

6 manufacturers run the risk of losing their largest

7 customers during the first half of this decade unless

8 they adopt computer aided design, engineering, and

9 manufacturing systems in their work places and

10 learn how to participate with customers and sup11 pliers in integrated electronic enterprises.

12 (8) Application protocols are very complex

13 standards, often running thousands of pages, and

14 require the cooperation of entire industries for their

15 development.

16 (9) The National Institute of Standards and

17 Technology, because of the electronic commerce ex18 pertise in its laboratories and quality program, its

19 long history of working cooperatively with manufac20 turers, and the nationwide reach of its manufac21 turing extension program, is in a unique position to

22 help United States large and smaller manufacturers

23 alike in their responses to this challenge.
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1 (10) It is, therefore, in the national interest for

2 the National Institute of Standards and Technology

3 to accelerate its efforts—

4 (A) in helping major manufacturing indus5 tries develop standards and enterprise integra6 tion processes that are necessary to increase ef7 ficiency and lower costs; and

8 (B) in making sure that every small or me9 dium-sized manufacturer has the option of up10 grading its manufacturing capabilities to the

11 point where it can be part of an electronic sup12 ply chain of a major manufacturing industry.

13 SEC. 3. ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION INITIATIVE.

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director shall establish

15 an initiative for advancing enterprise integration within

16 the United States. In carrying out this section, the Direc17 tor shall involve, as appropriate, the various units of the

18 National Institute of Standards and Technology, including

19 the National Institute of Standards and Technology lab20 oratories, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership pro21 gram established under sections 25 and 26 of the National

22 Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C.

23 278k and 278l), and the Malcolm Baldrige National Qual24 ity Program. This initiative shall begin with product data

25 management and build upon ongoing efforts of the Na-
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1 tional Institute of Standards and Technology and of the

2 private sector, shall involve consortia that include govern3 ment and industry, and shall be designed to permit enter4 prise integration in each United States major manufac5 turing industry at the earliest possible date.

6 (b) ASSESSMENT.—The Director shall work to iden7 tify all enterprise integration standards and implementa8 tion activities for major manufacturing industries under9 way in the United States and abroad. For each major

10 manufacturing industry, the Director shall work with in11 dustry representatives and organizations currently en12 gaged in enterprise integration activities and other appro13 priate representatives as necessary. They shall assess the

14 current state of enterprise integration within the industry,

15 identify the remaining steps in achieving enterprise inte16 gration, and work toward agreement on the roles of the

17 National Institute of Standards and Technology and of

18 the private sector in that process. Within 90 days after

19 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall

20 report to the Congress on these matters and on antici21 pated related National Institute of Standards and Tech22 nology activities for the then current fiscal year.

23 (c) PLANS AND REPORTS.—Within 180 days after

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall

25 submit to the Congress a plan for enterprise integration
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1 for each major manufacturing industry, including mile2 stones for the National Institute of Standards and Tech3 nology portion of the plan, the dates of likely achievement

4 of those milestones, and anticipated costs to the Govern5 ment and industry by fiscal year. Updates of the plans

6 and a progress report for the past year shall be submitted

7 annually until for a given industry, in the opinion of the

8 Director, enterprise integration has been achieved.

9 (d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—In order to carry out

10 this Act and the plans prepared under subsection (c), the

11 Director may—

12 (1) work with companies and trade associations

13 within a major manufacturing industry to raise

14 awareness of enterprise integration activities in the

15 United States and abroad, including convening meet16 ings;

17 (2) work with an industry on the development

18 of enterprise integration roadmaps;

19 (3) support the development, testing, promulga20 tion, and adoption of standards, including applica21 tion protocols;

22 (4) support the development, promulgation, in23 tegration, and upgrading of standards related to en24 terprise integration;
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1 (5) support pilot projects that include small and

2 medium-sized businesses for new standards and en3 terprise integration;

4 (6) ensure the training and regular upgrading

5 of skills of Manufacturing Extension Program em6 ployees;

7 (7) develop tool kits and employee training ma8 terials and take other steps necessary to permit

9 small and medium-sized businesses to participate in

10 an integrated enterprise; and

11 (8) set up mechanisms to permit the various

12 Manufacturing Extension Program centers to access

13 expertise and materials from each other.

14 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

15 For purposes of this Act—

16 (1) the term ‘‘automotive’’ means land-based

17 engine-powered vehicles including automobiles,

18 trucks, busses, trains, defense vehicles, farm equip19 ment, and motorcycles;

20 (2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of

21 the National Institute of Standards and Technology;

22 (3) the term ‘‘enterprise integration’’ means the

23 electronic linkage of manufacturers, assemblers, and

24 suppliers to enable the electronic exchange of prod25 uct, manufacturing, and other business data among
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1 all businesses in a product supply chain, and such

2 term includes related application protocols and other

3 related standards;

4 (4) the term ‘‘major manufacturing industry’’

5 includes the aerospace, automotive, electronics, ship6 building, construction, home building, furniture, tex7 tile, and apparel industries and such other industries

8 as the Director designates; and

9 (5) the term ‘‘National Institute of Standards

10 and Technology laboratories’’ means those institutes

11 of the National Institute of Standards and Tech12 nology with expertise in electronic commerce, includ13 ing the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, the

14 Building and Fire Research Laboratory, and the In15 formation Technology Laboratory.

16 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Direc18 tor to carry out functions under this Act $10,000,000 for

19 fiscal year 2001, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and

20 such sums as may be necessary for subsequent fiscal

21 years.

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