STEP Tools News for Thursday April 13

[Martin Hardwick]

This weekly newsletter is a brief update of what is going on in STEP
and at STEP Tools, Inc.  If you want to know more, try the STEP Tools
web site (http://www.steptools.com).


------------
XML Examples 

Some example data has been added to our STEP-XML resource page:

    http://www.steptools.com/projects/xml/

An XML file describing an AP-203 part definition
An XML file describing an AP-227 piping definition
An XML file describing an AP-203 Advanced face
An XML file describing an AP-203 Edge curve

A Use Case diagram has also been added to the page showing 
how to use XML to implement database transactions.


--------------------------------
ST-Developer v8 on Intel Itanium 

STEP Tools, Inc. has been contacted by Intel to port ST-Developer to
their new Itanium IA-64 processor.  The Itanium is a high-end 64 bit
processor designed for technical computing and is an excellent match
for engineering applications built with ST-Developer.


---------------------------
First Part Correct Workshop

The STEP-NC project was presented to the First Part Correct workshop
at NIST in Washington last week. 

The First Part Correct initiative seeks to dramatically reduce the
time required to make the first part from a product design. It is an
excellent match for the STEP-NC project and contained many experts
from Industry, Government and Academia.

Between them they supplied a wealth of reasons why First Part Correct
and STEP-NC are important programs:

- By value 75% of manufactured parts are made in lots less than 50.
- On average data is entered into CAD, CAM, CAE, PDM and other
  enterprise systems 50 times.
- Of 13 million engineering hours spent on the Boeing 777, 8 million
  were spent on data correction and administration.
- For each CAD file made by design, manufacturing produces 100.
- 98& of US manufacturing is small.
- On average, salaries are 58% greater than retail.
- 65,122 small enterprise are engaged in discrete part manufacturing.
  They employ 3,109,000 people, purchase materials worth $315 billion
  and add $255 billion in value.



-------------------
Translation Service

Summary:
Period Covered: Sun Apr  2 03:25:03 2000 -- Sun Apr  9 03:25:03 2000
Total usage: 52
Successful usage: 41 (78%)
Errors: 11 (21%)


Translator		total	error	success rate

ACIS to STEP:		18	0	100%
STEP to ACIS:		9	1	88%
AP203 Checker:		2	0	100%
Parasolid to STEP:	1	0	100%
STEP to Parasolid:	8	5	37%
STEP to XML:		1	0	100%
Visualization tools:	6	3	50%
Visualization Service:	4	0	100%
XML to STEP:		1	1	0%

=======================================
All-Time stats

------------------------------------
Summary:
Period Covered: Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 -- Sun Apr  9 03:25:34 2000
Total usage: 8597
Successful usage: 7252 (84%)
Errors: 1345 (15%)


Translator		total	errors success rate

ACIS to STEP:		1902	76	96%
STEP to ACIS:		2798	317	88%
STEP to XML:		87	18	79%
AP203 Checker:		610	50	91%
EXPRESS Checker:	11	1	90%
Parasolid to STEP:	272	130	52%
STEP to Parasolid:	332	165	50%
STEP to XML:		296	55	81%
Visualization tools:	407	116	71%
Visualization Service:	49	8	83%
XML to STEP:		73	26	64%


---------
Our Tools

ST-Developer
Programming tools for writing product data applications, translators
and databases.

Options:
* ST-ACIS Library -- programming functions to convert standard
  geometry to and from ACIS models and SAT files.
* ST-Parasolid Library -- programming functions to convert standard
  geometry to and from Parasolid models.
* ST-Visualizer Library -- programming functions to visualize
  standard geometry.


ST-Viewer
Desktop tools to share product data with the shop floor and supply
chain.

Options:
* ST-ACIS Translator -- for translating standard geometry to ACIS
  and vice versa.
* ST-Parasolid Translator -- for translating standard geometry to
  Parasolid and vice versa.


ST-Repository:
Global teaming database for design and manufacturing projects

Options:
*  Web site manager for managing a repository of engineering
   data with translation and visualization services.
*  License manager for ST-Developer and ST-Viewer
*  EXPRESS-X for mapping engineering information into and out
   of business objects.
*  XML libraries for writing interfaces to business systems.


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