[step-manufacturing] Minutes of April 17 conference call

[Martin Hardwick]

Attendees
--------------
Martin Hardwick, STEP Tools, USA
David Loffredo, STEP Tools, USA
Mikael Hedlind, Scania, Sweden
Vincent Marchini, Ameritech, USA
Fred Proctor, NIST, USA
Alain Brail Airbus (retired), France
Bengt Olsson, Sandvik, Sweden
David Madeley, Siemens, UK
Florian Weise, Siemens, Germany
Sid Venkatesh, Boeing, USA
Robert Erickson, Pratt and Whitney, USA
Yin Lampard Zhang, University of Auckland, New Zealand,
Xiao Wenlei, Peking University, China

We discussed progress on implementing the STEP-NC translators. Siemens 
has delivered the prototype of its translator to Sandvik and KTH for 
testing. Boeing has delivered its code for Catia to STEP-NC translation 
to Dassault.

We discussed the agenda for the face to face meeting on June 24 and 25. 
Four pilot projects are being formulated to test the new translators:

1. The Supply chain pilot will demonstrate the value of sending STEP-NC 
data to the supply chain for bidding and production. This pilot will 
measure the reduction in the data preparation costs and the improvement 
in the time and quality of responses when requests for quotes and 
manufacturing orders are sent to suppliers as STEP-NC data packets.
2. The on-machine acceptance pilot will demonstrate the value of using 
STEP-NC to validate part quality in-situ on the machine tool. This pilot 
will measure the reduction in cycle time, the reduction in wastage, and 
the enhancement of manufacturing flexibility when machining and 
measurement are integrated on the control.
3. The tooling solution pilot will demonstrate the value of including 
process solutions with tooling recommendations. This pilot will measure 
the reduction in the total cost of ownership when better quality 
solutions are recommended by the vendor with process data that enables 
rapid, reliable deployment.
4. The open simulation pilot will demonstrate the value of an open 
framework for manufacturing simulation and verification. This pilot will 
measure the reduction in setup time, and the enhancements  to 
flexibility, accuracy and safety when manufacturing requirements (PMI), 
manufacturing processes and manufacturing resources can be plugged into 
a common, open framework.

The date of the face to face meeting has now been fixed to be June 24 
and 25. A registration form has been posted to the web site along with 
the enhanced agenda. The deadline for registration is June 10 but 
earlier responses will be much appreciated.

http://www.steptools.com/camxc/

We discussed publicity for the meeting. Modern Machine Shop has 
requested an update on STEP-NC. Sandvik has recently published an 
article describing ISO 13399 and its relationship to STEP and STEP-NC.

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2346f/MachineryMarch2013/resources/1.htm

The National Tool Manufacturing Association (NTMA) has expressed an 
interest in participating in the pilots but key members of their 
association will require Pro/Engineer to support STEP-NC.

The remainder of the meeting was devoted to a second review of the STEP 
data format (Part 21). The current draft, the slides given and a new 
environment for testing the specification can be found on the following 
page:

http://www.steptools.com/library/standard/

The new Part 21 format will be upward compatible with the current format 
and enhance it to include URI's and intelligent interfaces. The current 
data format has been highly successful with nearly every CAD, CAM and 
BIM vendor implementing the required interfaces for the STEP, STEP-NC 
and IFC (building construction and maintenance) models.

The new edition seeks to build on this success by enabling the crowd 
sourcing of massive product models. The key features of the edition include:

1. Anchor and reference sections to enable the distribution of an 
information mode between files linked by URI's.
2. Enhancement of the base character set to support UTF-8 for 
international language support
3. ZIP archive support for selective updates, simple data management and 
easy e-mailing.
4. Time stamps and integrity locks for safe management of data sets 
distributed across the supply chain
5. JavaScript binding to automate the linking, simulation and 
verification of the massive product models.
6. Data relaxation and tagging for a new and more efficient style of 
application programming.

Part 21 Edition 1 has served the community well for over 20 years. The 
desire is for the new format to serve us equally well for the next 20.

A recording of this conference call is available at the following ftp 
site. The next conference call will be at the regular times on May 1st.

ftp://www.steptools.com/private/CAM_exchange/Cycle_1/stepmanuf_telecon_20130417.wmv

Martin Hardwick
Team Leader ISO STEP-Manufacturing

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