General Introduction

Abstract

A study commissioned by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that ISO 10303, the Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP), has the potential to reduce mitigation and avoidance interoperability costs in the aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries by approximately $928 million (2001$) a year (Gallaher, O’connor, & Phelps, 2002). Studies like these show the benefits and importance of using data-exchange standards to enable technical and business information to be shared electronically throughout an extended manufacturing enterprise (Ray & Jones, 2006). The literature surrounding these data-exchange standards indicates that a fairly large corpus of information is available with regards to the history, practical implementation and benefits ofdata-exchange standards like STEP (Kemmerer, 1999). However, a further review of the literature shows that there is very limited empirical research into the factors that impact the adoption of data-exchange standards. This means that practitioners devoted to the ongoing development and use of standards like STEP, and academics, still lack a significant body of evidence regarding the factors and barriers critical to the adoption of these standards. The research reported in this book seeks to address this gap by developing conceptual models for data-exchange standards adoption, which are tested through a series of qualitative case studies and action research. This chapter begins by giving an overview of the emergence and development of product data-exchange standards like STEP and the rationale behind the research presented. Following on from that is an overview of current work and research relating to the adoption of STEP. The aim, objectives and scope of this research are then stated.