Jan 24, 2007 17:43
17 yrs ago
8 viewers *
French term
colisage
French to English
Tech/Engineering
Electronics / Elect Eng
Element in a major power station works project
Concerning "Contraintes imposées par l'environnement" and the cohabitation of these works (alternator refurbishment) with other things going on in the same area:
"Le colisage au niveau du plancher turbine où sont réalisées les prestations est défini en accord entre le Titulaire et le [client supervisory body]. Il prévoit la promiscuité de tous les travaux environnants et la zone de stockage du [big heavy piece of equipment]"
Now I just can't get my head round what they're talking about here?
Anything to do with packing up parcels and the like doesn't seem to make any sense at all, and the idea of its being a type of document like a "manifest" doesn't make sense to me either. I did wonder if it mean the way incoming goods are grouped, but none of them on the face of it seem likely to come under HazChem regs. or the like.
I'm completely at a loss to know what they are talking about! The term also crops up used in a different way elsewhere:
(these are parts of the service to be provide for which the successful bidder will be responsible)
"La mise en œuvre de toute l'infrastructure et la logistique nécessaire à la réalisation des prestations de [work being done] (personnel, colisage, zone de travail à accès limité, zone propre, approvisionnement des pièces de réchange, consommables et produits non fournis par l'Entreprise)."
"Le colisage au niveau du plancher turbine où sont réalisées les prestations est défini en accord entre le Titulaire et le [client supervisory body]. Il prévoit la promiscuité de tous les travaux environnants et la zone de stockage du [big heavy piece of equipment]"
Now I just can't get my head round what they're talking about here?
Anything to do with packing up parcels and the like doesn't seem to make any sense at all, and the idea of its being a type of document like a "manifest" doesn't make sense to me either. I did wonder if it mean the way incoming goods are grouped, but none of them on the face of it seem likely to come under HazChem regs. or the like.
I'm completely at a loss to know what they are talking about! The term also crops up used in a different way elsewhere:
(these are parts of the service to be provide for which the successful bidder will be responsible)
"La mise en œuvre de toute l'infrastructure et la logistique nécessaire à la réalisation des prestations de [work being done] (personnel, colisage, zone de travail à accès limité, zone propre, approvisionnement des pièces de réchange, consommables et produits non fournis par l'Entreprise)."
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
14 hrs
Philippe Etienne
Spain
Spain
Native in French
Works in field
Spain
In the reader's shoes since 2000
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France) 
Works in: English to French
Related KudoZ points
:
39
Selected
(floor) covering
Still from my expert source.
using plastic sheets for foreign material exclusion
using plastic sheets for foreign material exclusion
1 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Do you know, Philippe, I think this just might be it?! It certainly could fit in all the places where it is used, and is not contradictory with anything that appears elsewhere. I'm going to pick your answer, but I'll not enter the gloss. for the time being, in the hopes of getting some client feedback..."
25 mins
Martine Brault
Canada
Canada
Native in French
&
English
Canada
Versatility reliability professionalism
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French, French to English, French, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
dedicated floor space/cube space
This may be a bit farfetched, but could they be referring to the space/dimensions required to perform whatever they are doing?
Colisage is often used to describe the size of parcels or bundles. I wonder...
Colisage is often used to describe the size of parcels or bundles. I wonder...
Note from asker:
| Thanks! Far-fetched, possibly, but equally likely! However, I felt the need to play safe and be less specific. |
26 mins
Kari Foster
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Works in field
United Kingdom
Technical knowledge, attention to detail
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, German to English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
20
loading
It gives me the impression it might be talking about the floor loading (i.e. the weight per unit area it can support). This would make sense as the text is apparently talking about a very large item. If you look in Eurodicautom under "colis" there is one entry that vaguely (very vaguely) supports this idea. Please note my low confidence level though. Best of luck.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Kari! Could well be right, but not enough evidence for me to risk being so specific |
1 hr
Charlie Bavington
Native in English
Hassle-free translations for busy people
Native in: English
Works in: French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
3
cordoning off, isolation, sealing?...
Can't think of the right word at the moment, but I mean the kind of measures that restrict access either to individuals, or possibly to "stuff" (chemicals etc). This is required in the first case 'cos of how nearby it is to other work, and the storage of the whateveritis. In the second case it fits with the arrangements for work, note this aspect is hinted at in the following two items on that list. Anyway, the result of the "colisage" is a restricted area - I just wish I could think of the word for colisage :-)
NB: this is all deduced 'logically' - I've never seen the word used this way, hence v low confidence.
NB: this is all deduced 'logically' - I've never seen the word used this way, hence v low confidence.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, CB! Of all the extrapolations, this is the one that fits most comofrtably with the rest of the context (which does indeed talk about isolation of circuits, etc...) However, as elsewhere, I steered clear of opting for anything to specific. |
| ...too specific... Oops! |
3 hrs
Jennifer Levey
Chile
Chile
Native in English
Specializes in field
Chile
Human-scale Globalization
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
263
(equipment) maneouvres / handling
It looks as if 'colisage' is being used - in both extracts - as a synonym of 'manutention'. The shifting of large equipment in an operational environment such as a power station may require the clearance of special access routes, the temporary removal from service of adjacent equipment, the lifting of overhead cables and 101 other things that are required simply to get the 'big heavy piece of equipment' from the low-loader in the car-park (or the local railway line) into the turbine hall.
That's certainly what I recall doing in in the 1970s when I was involved in refurbishing a high-power MF transmitting station, where several 50 kW 22 kV DC motor-generators built in the 1920s were scrapped without interrupting services.
That's certainly what I recall doing in in the 1970s when I was involved in refurbishing a high-power MF transmitting station, where several 50 kW 22 kV DC motor-generators built in the 1920s were scrapped without interrupting services.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, MM! Certainly plausible, and it is valudable to have the benefit of your first-hand experience to back it up. However, I still shrink from taking the risk of plumping for an answer that could be too specific, and I am cautious too since various aspects of handling are dealt with in other parts of the document. |
3 hrs
in case this helps
Here is another use of colisage (the second link is the translation of the first) as "overpacking" for radioactive materials.
http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2006/nea6178-argile.pdf
http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2006/nea6179-havl.pdf
Or do the works involve the dismantling and transport of existing machinery - this would involve careful colisage so that the machinery could be correctly reassembled or disposed of.
http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2006/nea6178-argile.pdf
http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2006/nea6179-havl.pdf
Or do the works involve the dismantling and transport of existing machinery - this would involve careful colisage so that the machinery could be correctly reassembled or disposed of.
Note from asker:
| Not radioactive materials as such here, but could easily be something along these lines; what confuses me slightly is that this comes at the start of the process, not the end... |
| But thanks all the same, mark, for your valued contribution and refs. |
3 hrs
knockdown??
I don't remember the context in which I encountered it, but in my notes I have "colisage - knockdown, knockdown dimensions".
If your people are refurbishing plant, it would make sense that they have to take it apart, requiring a certain amount of floor space to do so. Additionally, if, say, one contractor is refurbishing the bearings, another the brushes, another the windings, another the hydraulics, another the braking system, another the electronics and SatNav, another the windscreen wipers and towbar, the entire plant item will have to be spread out in accordance with the space required for each contractor to knock down his particular bit of the jigsaw.
Presumably the word would originally been used when something was first assembled, then knocked down for shipping, but there would be a certain analogy if an item were taken apart, refurbished on site, then reassembled.
If your people are refurbishing plant, it would make sense that they have to take it apart, requiring a certain amount of floor space to do so. Additionally, if, say, one contractor is refurbishing the bearings, another the brushes, another the windings, another the hydraulics, another the braking system, another the electronics and SatNav, another the windscreen wipers and towbar, the entire plant item will have to be spread out in accordance with the space required for each contractor to knock down his particular bit of the jigsaw.
Presumably the word would originally been used when something was first assembled, then knocked down for shipping, but there would be a certain analogy if an item were taken apart, refurbished on site, then reassembled.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Alex! Certainly would make some sense in the contexts where it appears, but as with other answers, I was a bit reluctant to take the leap into the dark; particularly since at the point is is being talked about, the machine hasn't yet been "knocked down" — though it might of course be referring to the space allocated for it subsequently. |
4 hrs
storage/delivery protocols
may have to do with how things enter/leave and are stored in building/complex
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Blavatsky! In otehr contexts, that would indeed be an excellent choice. From other clues in the text, and the fact that we are not talking to a great extent about materials and storage, I don't believe this is probably applicable here. |
8 hrs
Raymonde Gagnier
Canada
Canada
Native in French
&
English
Canada
Also a narrator/je suis aussi narratrice
Native in: French (Variant: Canadian) , English
Works in: English to French
Related KudoZ points
:
12
packaging
This is only a possibility but, it just might be packaging! If the power plant is going through some major renovations, there's waste material that has to be disposed of, which explains the "Contraintes imposées par l'environnement".
"Les ouvrages de stockage ont pour fonction principale d’isoler les colis de l’environnement, et surtout de l’eau. "
www.andra.fr/
"Some electricity generation technologies result in the creation of solid waste. In some cases, this waste is disposed of in landfills. In other cases, this waste may contain toxic and hazardous elements and materials that require special handling, treatment, and disposal,"
www.epa.gov/cleanrgy/solidwaste_gen.htm
"Les ouvrages de stockage ont pour fonction principale d’isoler les colis de l’environnement, et surtout de l’eau. "
www.andra.fr/
"Some electricity generation technologies result in the creation of solid waste. In some cases, this waste is disposed of in landfills. In other cases, this waste may contain toxic and hazardous elements and materials that require special handling, treatment, and disposal,"
www.epa.gov/cleanrgy/solidwaste_gen.htm
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Rousselures! It is far from clear from the context if this does in fact involve waste materials (which are dealt with separately elsewhere anyway); but the term could well have been applicable in other senses; however, lack of other corroborative context made me hesitate to choose this as my solution. |
1 day 3 hrs
packing
After all the help you gave me, Tony, I thought I would put in my ha'pence worth.... remembering the years I spent in industrial textile machinery, I suddenly thought that they might mean the "packing" in the sense of "packing materials" that need to be put on the ground, under and around any really heavy bit of industrial equipment to a) keep it stable on the floor and, b) so that the weight can be cushioned. Make any sense? We are obviously translating the same document (or different parts of the same) because I have the EXACT same sentence in front of me now!!
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Leveleki! I kind of suspect you may well be on the right track here, but this wasn't the solution I ended up using; hope both of us got it right in the end! :-) |
Discussion
I'll let you all know if I get any client feedback!
It might in some way be referring to the way the parts that are to be fitted (many of the same) are delivered, but I find this very difficult to visualize in the context it is being used (i.e. why would they care?). It would help if I knew a LOT more about how they organize their business! :-(