[step-manufacturing] Minutes of August 13th conference call

[Martin Hardwick]

Attendees
--------------
Martin Hardwick, STEP Tools, USA
David Loffredo, STEP Tools, USA
Julie Huang, Sandvik Sweden
Alain Brail, Airbus (retired), France
Mike Restall, Sandvik, USA
David Odendahl, Boeing, USA
Sid Venkatesh, Boeing, USA
Leon Xu, Boeing, USA
Jim Kosmala, Okuma, USA
Thanh Huynh, Okuma, USA
Bob Baldizzi, Okuma, USA
Paul Kingsley, Okuma, USA
Rod Tojdowski, Okuma, USA
Thanh Huynh, Okuma, USA
Brian Sides, Okuma, USA
Vincent Marchetti, Ameritech, USA
Wayne Myers, Gosinger, USA
Zhigang Wang, Makino, USA

The press release for the IMTS demonstration was sent on July 31st.

We agreed that it is becoming inappropriate to discuss details of a 
demonstration to be given in the Okuma booth at IMTS in a public domain 
(ISO) conference call.

We discussed the advantages of replacing the multiple different formats 
used by the CAM industry for process data with STEP-NC.

Each CAM vendor has its own data format for communicating the process 
data designed in its system to the developers of post processors. The 
most well known is the NCI format of Mastercam. The formats are designed 
to be simple to convert into G-codes. The conversion is usually done by 
third parties who know the coordinate configurations of the machine, and 
the preferences of the customer. For the customer the cost of developing 
and maintaining the postprocessor is an undesired cost and the cause of 
errors because of misunderstanding between the CAM operators, the 
post-processor developers, the CNC operators and the machine tool builders.

Several attempts have been made to replace the CAM outputs with with a 
single standardized file. APT-CL was an early example but it did not 
have enough functionality and too many flavors were added to create that 
functionality. BCL was another example. Its features were more closely 
controlled but it failed because the cost of developing and maintaining 
a post processor from BCL was greater than the cost of developing and 
maintaining one from the CAM export formats.

The CAM export formats have the advantage of working closely with the 
CAM systems so the post-processor writer can visualize what is going on 
by looking at the process definition in the CAM system. APT-CL and BCL 
do not have a model of the stock or workpiece so process visualization 
is very difficult. STEP-NC is different because it includes geometry 
models for all of the key elements including the stock and workpiece but 
also the cutting tools, fixtures and machine. Therefore, the process can 
be understood in context and systems such as STEP-NC Machine can show 
simulations to further enforce data correctness.

Consequently we discussed whether the industry can replace the 
non-standard CAM file formats with ISO 10303-238 STEP-NC. For the CAM 
industry there is the cost of developing the software to export the new 
data. We estimate this cost to be about $100K including two months of 
work and the cost of purchasing a STEP toolkit. The cost is low because 
all the geometry models are already being made in CAD so they only have 
to be linked into the process model.

In return the CAM vendor can reduce costs by no longer having to manage 
a post-processor industry. The potential price is the loss of business 
if the end user can change between CAM vendors more easily. A leading 
vendor will have the winning functionality and an emerging vendor will 
like the reduced costs for market entry, but the other vendors will 
worry about the customers currently locked into their post-processor base.

A recording of the call is on the ftp site.
ftp://www.steptools.com/private/CAM_exchange/Cycle_4/stepmanuf_telecon_20140813.wmv

The next conference call will be held at the regular times on Wednesday  
August 20th

Martin Hardwick
Team Leader ISO STEP-Manufacturing
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