Simon P. Frechette

A Portrait of an ISO STEP Tolerancing Standard as an Enabler of Smart Manufacturing Systems

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has just completed a major effort on a new standard ISO 10303-242 titled “Managed Model Based 3D Engineering.” It belongs to a family of standards called STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data). ISO 10303-242 is also called the STEP Application Protocol 242 (STEP AP 242, for short). The intent of STEP AP 242 is to support a manufacturing enterprise with a range of standardized information models that flow through a long and wide “digital thread” that makes the manufacturing systems in the enterprise smart. One such standardized information model is that of tolerances specified on a product’s geometry so that the product can be manufactured according to the specifications. This paper describes the attributes of smart manufacturing systems, the capabilities of STEP AP 242 in handling tolerance information associated with product geometry, and how these capabilities enable the manufacturing systems to be smart.

Standards landscape and directions for smart manufacturing systems

The future of manufacturing lies in being able to optimize the use of resources to produce high quality product and adapt quickly to changing conditions. From smaller lot sizes, to more customization, to sudden changes in supply chain; the variability that manufacturers face is rapidly increasing. A key to enabling adaptive and smart manufacturing systems is the appropriate definition and use of information. Standards are fundamental 1) to facilitate the delivery of the right information at the right time, 2) to enable actions based on that information and 3) to reduce risk of technology adoption and development. This paper provides a review of the standards - a standards landscape - in which future smart manufacturing systems will operate. The landscape focuses on standards used to integrate within and across three manufacturing lifecycle dimensions: product, production system, and business. Opportunities and challenges for new standards are discussed. Emerging activities addressing these opportunities are presented. This paper will allow manufacturing practitioners to better understand the standards useful to integrate smart manufacturing technologies within their areas of expertise.

Testing STEP-NC implementations

STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data, ISO 10303) data for numerical control, or STEP-NC, is intended to provide full product and process data interoperability between computer-aided manufacturing systems and machine tool controllers. Numerous prototype and several commercial implementations of STEP-NC are currently being developed. Testing is an essential step toward ensuring conformance to a specification and achieving interoperability between different implementations. Test methods and valid test cases that address specific operational scenarios are vital to speed the development process. This paper describes proposed test methods and metrics, validation methods for test data, and test case development.

Model-Based Enterprise Summit Report

Abstract : This report summarizes the presentations, discussions, and recommendations from the Model-Based Enterprise Summit held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in December of 2012. The purpose of the Summit was to identify challenges, research, implementation issues, and lessons learned in manufacturing and quality assurance where a digital three-dimensional (3D) model serves as the authoritative information source for all activities in a product s lifecycle. The report includes an overview of model-based engineering, technical challenges, summaries of the presentations given at the workshop, and conclusions that emerged from the presentations and discussions.

Development Life Cycle for Semantically Coherent Data Exchange Specification

In enterprise integration, a data-exchange specification is an architectural artifact that evolves along with the business. Maintaining a coherent, data-exchange, semantic model is an important, yet nontrivial task. A coherent, semantic model of data — exchange specifications supports reuse, promotes interoperability, and, consequently, reduces integration costs. Components of data-exchange specifications must be consistent and valid in terms of agreed upon standards and guidelines. In this article, we propose an activity model for the creation, test, and maintenance of a shared semantic model that is coherent and supports scalable standards-based enterprise integration. While it frames our research and the development of tools to support those activities for semantic models implemented using XML (Extensible Markup Language) Schema, the activity model presented in this article is independent of the data-exchange technology.

Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering for Manufacturing

There is a convergence of interests in cyber-physical systems, systems engineering, and manufacturing innovation in the United States. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has undertaken research programs in smart manufacturing systems to address many of the standards and measurement science issues that arise from this convergence. This chapter describes the convergence, the progress made thus far in the NIST programs in smart manufacturing systems, and the challenges that drive further research.

DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE AND TOOLS FOR DATA EXCHANGE SPECIFICATION

In enterprise integration, a data exchange specification is an architectural artifact that evolves along with the business. Developing and maintaining a coherent semantic model for data exchange is an important, yet non-trivial, task. A coherent semantic model of data exchange specifications supports reuse, promotes interoperability, and, consequently, reduces integration costs. Components of data exchange specifications must be consistent and valid in terms of agreed upon standards and guidelines. In this paper, we describe an activity model and NIST developed tools for the creation, test, and maintenance of a shared semantic model that is coherent and supports scalable, standards-based enterprise integration. The activity model frames our research and helps define tools to support the development of data exchange specification implemented using XML (Extensible Markup Language) Schema.