<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.5945" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> </SPAN>Dear Mr Hardwick,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>I am Per-Arne Carlsson and
have been involved in STEP-NC and its evolution since it started as an end user.
I work with Virtual Manufacturing in a company at the AB Volvo
group. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>It takes time to establish
a new standard and I am impressed what you and your colleagues have done in the
States so far. We are following the work done in the STEP-Manufacturing Team and
in the cooperation with BOING, SANDVIK, NIST and KTH where Magnus Lundgren
participate. I also participate when I have time, now in the recession there is
no time or money any more. I hope it will change soon.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>I continuous follow your
work and have an ongoing dialog with Magnus. We work together<SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> </SPAN>to achieve Feature Based Operation
Planning based on STEP-NC and standards. T<SPAN
class=595344114-08062010>his to </SPAN> achieve <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> an </SPAN>efficient work in the
plants <SPAN class=595344114-08062010> with
</SPAN>the <SPAN class=595344114-08062010> process,
</SPAN>Operation Planning, <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> O</SPAN>ptimized NC-information and <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> M</SPAN>achine <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> B</SPAN>alancing<SPAN
class=595344114-08062010><FONT
color=#0000ff> , </FONT></SPAN> <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> witch </SPAN>is very important.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>Magnus have made some very
good example with the Boxy model and it's STEP-NC <SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> information </SPAN>, showing how
information can be extracted from the STEP-NC file that exist today. It means
that we are able to manage and store the information in STEP-NC<SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> according to available AP;s </SPAN> but to
access it we need special software to select and present the<SPAN
class=595344114-08062010> selected </SPAN>
information.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>STEP-NC is based on XML.
There is possibility to extract and transform the information we need for
balancing from the STEP-NC file (if the file is following XML-standard) by
using XSLT. It is a way of adapt a specific style sheet on the XML code and also
make a transform of the information without specific programming tools
etc. <SPAN class=595344114-08062010><FONT color=#0000ff> <FONT
color=#000000>Some example show this (</FONT> <A
href="http://spri.kshell.com/docs/index.xhtml">http://spri.kshell.com/docs/index.xhtml</A> </FONT><FONT
color=#000000>)</FONT></SPAN>There are also tools that check the validity of the
XML-code (</FONT><A href="http://www.w3.org/"><FONT
face=Arial>http://www.w3.org/</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>) witch make it usable
in any web browser.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>From a end user company we
would like to see an evolution of STEP-NC in this open direction so we and other
companies can extract and format the information they need from
STEP-NC based information files depending on their needs and
system.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>Ther<SPAN
class=439343111-10062010><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT
color=#000000>e</FONT> </FONT></SPAN> will be an huge market if the STEP-NC
file are open as it is today<SPAN class=439343111-10062010><FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000>,</FONT> </FONT></SPAN> <SPAN
class=439343111-10062010> the file </SPAN>can <SPAN
class=439343111-10062010><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT
color=#000000> be created</FONT> </FONT></SPAN>by the different
AP <SPAN class=439343111-10062010> and </SPAN>can carry
information supporting many different processes (machining, measure, planning,
balancing, flow simulation etc).<SPAN class=595344114-08062010><FONT
color=#0000ff> <SPAN
class=439343111-10062010> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
class=595344114-08062010><FONT color=#000000>Tomorrows user at the shop floor is
today's boys and girls grown up with internet, the web approach is a
must if we in any way will have any attention from
them. </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><SPAN class=595344114-08062010><FONT
face=Arial>We are also interested to test and demonstrate how this can be done
by standard browsers on a part like Boxy for evaluate operation planning and
balancing information with STEP-NC as a information
base.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial>What your view of
this?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=891214605-08062010></SPAN><SPAN lang=sv><FONT
face="Monotype Corsiva">Best regards / Med vänlig hälsning,<I></I></FONT><I>
</I></SPAN><BR><SPAN lang=sv><I><FONT face="Century Schoolbook">P-A
Carlsson</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT
face=Arial
size=1>_________________________________________________</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN
lang=en-us><B><FONT face=Arial size=2>Per-Arne Carlsson</FONT></B></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Volvo Information Technology
AB</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dept 9511, Geo.
loc. VAKV-D1</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial
size=2>SE-405 08 Gothenburg, Sweden</FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<P><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Telephone: +46 31 32 22
696</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mobile Phone +46
73 90 22 696</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial
size=2>E-mail:</FONT> <FONT face=Arial>per-arne.carlsson@volvo.com</FONT></SPAN>
</P>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>