In the summer of 1997 a conference was held in Boston at the Westin Hotel for the users of Maximo. There were about 800 attendees at PSDI International User Week that year. PSDI was the name when Maximo was developed before the name changed to MRO Software who was acquired by IBM in 2006. During the week of July 28th attendees were exploring upgrades from Maximo 2.11 to Maximo 3.02 and there were breakout sessions on integration, using report writers, inspections and safety job plans. There were client presentations from General Motors, UCLA, United Space Alliance, US Bureau of Reclamation, Whirlpool and Electricity Corporation of New Zealand. If these companies sound familiar, so will the topics:
- Using MAXIMO to Change the Way Maintenance is Perceived
- General Motors' Implementation Strategy for 200 Sites
- Integrating MAXIMO with a Geographical Information System
- Performing PMs on the Right Equipment at the Right Time
- MAXIMO: The Essential Ingredient in ECNZ's Recipe for World Class Status
Among the attendees were 35 people representing 20 utility companies including Arizona Public Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, Salt River Project, Cinergy, Metro Water District Southern California and New York Power Authority. One thing this group wanted to have was meeting of their own. On Wednesday afternoon, a number of us gather with Bill Olsen who had experience as a program manager running professional meetings for the nuclear power industry and Maximo Utility Working Group was born.
The following spring the very first MUWG meeting was held in Corapolis, PA (new Pittsburgh) with 54 attendees from 15 different companies. Since then the MUWG has been meeting twice a year hosted by different utilities around the country and attendance has grown eightfold. The unique and vibrant user community offers attendees an experience that can not be found at any other Maximo user group conference.
Now in the nineteen year, the MUWG is clearly the longest running user group meeting and at each meeting IBM brings key members of the technical, product management, development, strategy, sales and marketing teams for Maximo. This gives MUWG members direct access to key IBMers on each of these teams. Please take advantage of this unique access when you come to the next MUWG.
Ron Wallace IBM Liaison and co-founder of MUWG.