Product Data Exchange Research Articles

LAYMOD: a layered and modular platform for CAx product data integration based on the modular architecture of the standard for exchange of product data

Nowadays, companies strive to survive in a competitive global environment. Reduction of product development cycle plays a major role in market penetration and cost reduction. To speed up product development/modifications, it is suggested to adopt a collaborative product development approach. Collaborative design and manufacture requires an integrated platform to support related CAx product data models. To integrate CAx product data, a number of solutions are proposed. The most successful solution is adopting the STandard for Exchange of Product Data (STEP). In the course of the STEP standard structure and procedure development, two approaches can be recognised: classical and modular. The classical STEP standard has some shortcomings that slow down its implementation in collaborative data exchange. It is believed that the modular architecture of the STEP standard could improve these shortcomings. In this paper, the STEP modular architecture is adopted and a platform named LAYMOD to fulfil the requirements of CAx product data integration and collaboration is proposed. The platform is a layered platform to enable global collaboration and data integration among different CAx software packages. The architecture and procedures of LAYMOD platform are discussed thoroughly in a case study. The results of adopting the STEP modular architecture in the platform show that the LAYMOD fulfils CAx collaboration and product data integration, overcomes the classical STEP standard shortcomings, reduces the high cost and lengthy time of application protocols' (APs) implementation and eliminates duplication and repeated documentation of the same data entries in different APs.

The research of knowledge management for product developing model

This study proposes to construct a product development model through using knowledge management system. This model aims to help the design engineers and their upstream and downstream partners in the supply chains to develop products synchronously and simultaneously through the computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) tools. The collaborative design in this model consists of three layers: data layer, information layer, and knowledge layer, which separately deals with product data exchange, information sharing and collaborative decision-making in the design process. Based on the principle of product design, the study had integrated the innovation method of theory of invention problem solving (TRIZ) with the methods of knowledge management to develop this collaborative design model. This model includes knowledge management platform and integrating the design notions of innovation, environment protection and manufacturability; it can also serve as a feasible reference for products collaborative design and development process. Key words: Knowledge management system, collaborative design, computer supported cooperative work.

Service-oriented, cross-platform and high-level machining simulation

With the development of manufacturing, Web-based numerical control machining simulation has become an important part to realise networked manufacturing and make the training for operators easier. Although some research about it is available, most of them are based on G&M code that has inherent drawbacks such as vendor-specific nature, incomplete data, irreversible data conversions and lack of accuracy. These limitations hinder the development of a truthful simulation system; they are dependent on specific platform and have bad interoperability, which limits their use. Therefore, there is a requirement for high-level data model to be developed and utilised that can assist with accurate simulation for machining processes. In addition, there is also a need to take account of computer heterogeneous environment and online service. To solve these issues, this article proposes service-oriented, cross-platform and high-level machining simulation solution that utilises high-level data such as standard for the exchange of product data and standard for the exchange of product data-compliant numerical control in order to produce an informative and truthful simulation and utilises the proposed browser/server-based model–view–controller-communication-data pattern, Java and Web service technology in order to produce platform-independent and service-oriented machining simulation. The outcome of the research provides a better informed simulation environment, makes the training for operators easier and promotes the development of networked manufacturing.

Standards and Guidelines for Personal Health Records in the United States: Finding Consensus in a Rapidly Evolving and Divided Environment

Health care spending in the U.S. over the past decade has dramatically increased over the past decade and is expected to rise to 20% of GDP in the United States by the end of the decade. In 2010, the U.S. Congress approved the Health Care Reform Act with a critical component of this legislation being the adoption of health information technologies (i.e. EMRs, EHRs, PHRs, etc.) aimed at transforming the health care system. Consumer-driven health care models are seen as essential to control the escalating costs of health care. The objective of this research is to canvas the landscape of existing standards and guidelines relating to electronic personal health records (PHRs) and to evaluate the level of adoption of these standards and guidelines amongst current vendors. Through this effort, we propose a consensus standard for PHRs consisting of 14 data components, 11 of which should be essential for all PHRs and 3 additional recommended data components. Through a survey of existing PHR vendors, we observe a low level of adoption of existing standards in commercially available PHR products and note a wide variation (36-73%) of inclusion of critical and desired data components. Further, we propose 4 key features and services based upon a review of the existing literature to facilitate consumer adoption and to improve usefulness of PHRs. By proposing a consensus standard for PHR data components and features, we seek to provide clarity to developers and vendors of HIT products to facilitate product development, interoperability, and integration and data exchange with existing EMR/EHR products

Path-based XML Relational Storage Approach

As an important medium for the description of product information and data exchange, XML(eXtensible Markup Language) is widely used in the network supported collaborative design. How to store and query XML data will directly affect the performance of collaborative design system. Compared the advantages and disadvantages of existing XML data storage technology, a new path-based XML data storage method using relational database is proposed. This paper gives the specific storage mapping algorithm. The different XML documents are stored using a fixed relationship model and not limited by the document DTD(Document type definition). The XML data stored using the method have unique advantages such as simple structure, small volume and easy to query processing. Good data processing is helpful for improving the efficiency of collaborative design system.

Research on the Information Extraction Technology of STEP

In order to generate STEP-NC data model in keeping with the ISO14649 protocol, extend the STEP model to the field of the CNC, the paper analyzes STEP standard and its file structure, develops the display software which can be read and display the STEP format file based on open source Open CASCADE geometric kernel by using the Visual Studio 2008 software development environment, designs one instance by using Pro/E software, and stored as a STEP format file in Pro/E environment, and then, using the software developed to read and display the STEP file. The results of this study improve the product data exchange and integration capabilities, lay a good foundation for generating the STEP-NC format file in the future, extracting the file STEP-NC machining information, and achieving CAD / CAM / CAPP integration system.

Automatic setup planning system using a neutral part data exchange format

The task of automatic setup planning includes grouping machining features into setups, selecting setup datum and sequencing the setups. A feasible setup plan satisfies fundamental manufacturing constraints and assures that the part is machined to meet design specification. The objective of this work is to automatically generate and evaluate setup plans for complete machining of a given component while simultaneously considering the feature tolerance relationships, feature dependencies, general manufacturing rules, critical machine spatial constraints and fixturing feasibility. The methodology developed during the present work minimises the number of setups and machining tolerances, decides the setup sequence and generates the setups' information and the intermediate work piece geometry. The component geometry with identified machining features and their access directions is taken as input from a neutral part data exchange format STandard for the Exchange of Product data (STEP) model. The procedure for generation of setup planning results and visualisation of intermediate work piece model is presented and demonstrated with the help of case studies.

Managing the exchange of engineering product data to support through life ship design

An approach for managing the exchange of engineering product data between geographically distributed designers and analysts using a heterogeneous tool set for the through-life design of a ship is described. The approach was developed within a pan-European maritime project called VRShips-ROPAX 2000 that demonstrated how information technology could be integrated into the design process. This paper describes the development of a common model containing neutral ship product data through a bottom-up consideration of the requirements of the tools to be integrated, as well as a top-down consideration of the data requirements for through life design. This common model was supported within an Integrated Design Environment (IDE) that co-ordinated design activity distributed across Europe. The IDE ensured that the users were provided with the right data in the right form at the right time to do the right task, i.e., that the design activity was timely and appropriate. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach are highlighted.

Implementation of Management Model for Manufacturing Information Based to PDM

Product development is becoming more complex. Product design is desired to be undertaken together with the considerations of downstream processes such as manufacturing and assembling. The product data exchange between CAD and PDM systems is a crucial issue for the integration of product development systems. To solve this, this paper focuses on a flexible, unified data model based on PDM that integrates information and models from different engineering domains. Some key technologies, such as type of data organization and data exchange between PDM and CAD, are researched based on the case of Smarteam. This approach has been experimented within a company environment that designs and produces families of the hydraulic press parts.

Integration of product design, process planning, scheduling, and FMS control using XML data representation

An efficient model for communications between CAD, CAPP, and CAM applications in distributed manufacturing planning environment has been seen as key ingredient for CIM. Integration of design model with process and scheduling information in real-time is necessary in order to increase product quality, reduce the cost, and shorten the product manufacturing cycle. This paper describes an approach to integrate key product realization activities using neutral data representation. The representation is based on established standards for product data exchange and serves as a prototype implementation of these standards. The product and process models are based on object-oriented representation of geometry, features, and resulting manufacturing processes. Relationships between objects are explicitly represented in the model (for example, feature precedence relations, process sequences, etc.). The product model is developed using XML-based representation for product data required for process planning and the process model also uses XML representation of data required for scheduling and FMS control. The procedures for writing and parsing XML representations have been developed in object-oriented approach, in such a way that each object from object-oriented model is responsible for storing its own data into XML format. Similar approach is adopted for reading and parsing of the XML model. Parsing is performed by a stack of XML handlers, each corresponding to a particular object in XML hierarchical model. This approach allows for very flexible representation, in such a way that only a portion of the model (for example, only feature data, or only the part of process plan for a single machine) may be stored and successfully parsed into another application. This is very useful approach for direct distributed applications, in which data are passed in the form of XML streams to allow real-time on-line communication. The feasibility of the proposed model is verified in a couple of scenarios for distributed manufacturing planning that involves feature mapping from CAD file, process selection for several part designs integrated with scheduling and simulation of the FMS model using alternative routings.

PDQ (Product Data Quality): Representation of Data Quality for Product Data and Specifically for Shape Data

In the communication and sharing of product data, if the difference of the required data quality and the data quality actually incorporated into data is significant, it causes various problems. It is often the case that a creator of low quality data does not realize it unless it is harmful for his job. In most cases, low quality data passed to subsequent processes, such as manufacturing process, cause problems since these are not appropriate from the machining precision point of view or the detailed shape modeling point of view. In these cases, rework or repair of data is necessitated before commencing the target process, which results in significant economy loss and delay of product development. Today’s product model data are dumb data because design intents and data quality incorporated are not explicitly represented. Receiving systems cannot know whether the data passed possess sufficient quality for the target job or not. Another problem is that engineers in later processes, such as the manufacturing process, cannot issue data quality related request beforehand in a commonly agreed manner. The problems mentioned above are caused by the lack of a commonly agreed representation of product data quality (PDQ) information. Our proposed solution is designed to enable the communication and sharing of data quality information. This paper reports the development of a PDQ standard (ISO 10303-59), which is a resource part of ISO 10303 Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP) (2008, “ISO 10303-59, Industrial Automation Systems and Integration. Product Data Representation and Exchange. Part 59 Integrated Generic Resource: Quality of Product Shape Data,” International Standard Organization, Geneva). The objective of ISO 10303-59 is to establish a PDQ model and to enable the use of PDQ data independently or in combination with product data. The developed PDQ information model represents concepts such as data quality criteria, measurement requirements, and measured results. Based on the PDQ model, the PDQ for shape data model, which is a specialization of the PDQ model to 3D shape data quality, is also developed.

Introducing a roadmap to implement the Universal Manufacturing Platform using Axiomatic Design theory

In competitive environment of quick market changes, developing an interoperable manufacturing system is a necessity. To realise interoperability, the exchange of part and product data must be independent of their platforms. There are two basic approaches for this purpose: i) utilising interfaces; ii) utilising neutral formats. Standard for the Exchange of Product data (STEP) plays a significant role as a neutral data model to integrate design, manufacturing and other activities in product life cycle. To implement a Universal Manufacturing Platform (UMP), a systematic roadmap is required. The current paper proposes such a roadmap using the methodology of Axiomatic Design (AD). [Received 12 February 2009; Revised 2 July 2009; Accepted 25 October 2009]

Experience in Development of Translators for AP203 Edition 2 Construction History

AbstractOver the last two decades, the mechanical CAD industry has witnessed the development of many powerful 3D CAD software products built upon proprietary geometric kernals. The ISO 10303 STEP standard was developed, with the Application Protocol (AP 203) in particular, to provide a medium for product data exchange of lower-level geometry of mechanical parts and assemblies. A recent version, AP203 Edition 2, introduced the exchange of product data using a hybrid model containing construction history, GD&T, parameters and other high-level content. This paper presents an interpretation of the schema definitions provided under the current standard, presents a generic approach to map feature history data between CAD systems, discusses an implementation of this approach for data translation, and discusses the issues in the standard realized during this effort.

The Rosewood experiment — Building information modeling and interoperability for architectural precast facades

The Rosewood experiment examined building information modeling (BIM) and product data exchange in the design and fabrication of architectural precast façades. The façade panels of a 16 story office building were designed and fabricated using traditional CAD, while a parallel workflow was performed independently using BIM tools. No limitations were encountered in designing and detailing of precast façade pieces with current software. Production of the same set of drawings showed a productivity gain of 57% over the CAD process. However, the data exchanges between architectural and precast engineering systems were incomplete and inconsistent, confirming the need for BIM exchange standards. The existing Industry Foundation Classes schema (IFC version 2x3) lacks precast-specific entities and property sets. The majority of the difficulties can be traced to a loss in translation of semantic meaning for the objects exchanged.

Digital product data exchange in semantic service‐oriented architecture

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new method of ontology‐based digital product data exchange. The digital product data are enriched with virtual prototype (VP) model information and the designed exchange process is discussed. Additionally, an algorithm enabling the ontology‐based data exchange method among missile guide systems is proposed and analyzed.Design/methodology/approach – Semantic sevice‐oriented architecture (SSOA) is an innovative integration architecture for digital product information integration and process integration. In digital product ontology layer of SSOA, a new method of ontology‐based product data exchange is proposed. Compared with traditional information exchange, the method adds the VP's information to general digital products' information. The VP's information is described by building VP static structure ontology and dynamic behavior ontology. The exchange process of the novel method is discussed in detail. Finally, an example illustrating the data exchange a...

Knowledge framework for intelligent manufacturing systems

Nowadays, competition is experienced not only among companies but among global supply chains and business networks. There is a demand for intelligent world-class solutions capable of reinforcing partnerships and collaborations with an improved cross-cultural understanding. However due to the proliferation of terminology, organizations from similar business environments have trouble cooperating, and are experiencing difficulties exchanging electronically vital information, such as product and manufacturing data, even when using international standards. To address similar interoperability problems, the Intelligent manufacturing systems program ( http://www.ims.org/content/glossary ) is providing an opportunity to develop industry-led R&D initiatives, building common semantics and integrated solutions. The SMART-fm project was one of those initiatives. It led to the development of the international standard for product data representation and exchange in the furniture sector (ISO 10303-236) and identified the challenge of semantic interoperability which is today a major challenge in modern enterprise integration. This paper presents a knowledge framework to address that challenge and make interoperable intelligent manufacturing systems a reality. It proposes to use semantically enriched international product data standards, and knowledge representation elements as a basis for achieving seamless enterprise interoperability.

Integrated product ontologies for inter-organizational networks

Purpose of this paper is to propose approach and technical infrastructure for improvement of inter-organizational networks' response in product information acquisition and management. Different approaches (industrial categorization schemes, functional decomposition and semantic web) for management of product information are analyzed in context of inter-organizational networks. Process for semantic alignment of product information is defined, resulting with generalized, two-dimensional model, consisting of design and functional perspective. The process is expected to decrease human intervention in product data exchange in networked environments, as well as to create added value, through possible recognition of design intent, automated referencing to related manufacturing competences and reuse potential. Current prototype of system comprises of product ontologies and interfaces for topological model submission and refinement by using lexical term and predicate matching and property transfer. Impact of using formalized functional perspective is only theoretically justified and it still needs to be verified.

OWL/SWRL representation methodology for EXPRESS-driven product information model: Part II: Practice

This paper continues the study of the ontology-based approach. The emphasis is placed on the practice of the representation methodology. The integrated and application framework for the knowledge-based product information model in OWL/SWRL is described. The interoperation between the product information model and existing rule engines is discussed. As most rule engines have their own fact and rule syntax different from OWL/SWRL, Jess, a Java-based rule engine, is employed to perform the inference and the transformation between the OWL/SWRL and Jess syntax by means of XSLT is investigated. In order to access the product information, querying methods are also introduced. The practice is illustrated through stand-alone experimental applications, oriented to the ontology stemming from a test case of a product information model in EXPRESS language. Meanwhile, the present study proves the feasibility and validity of ontologies as a support to product data exchange, information and knowledge sharing, and reasoning.

OpenPDM-based product data exchange among heterogeneous PDM systems in a distributed environment

In a global product development environment, more and more companies are implementing distributed engineering processes in order to shorten the time to market and merge different core competences. One of the important issues in collaborative product development during the whole product creation is to easily and quickly access the digital product definition models and documents of relevant partners. The essential problems of product data distribution are that each partner has to know what information to find in which system, how to collect the necessary information from individual systems, and how to assemble partial information so that it becomes complete. Even more difficult is the need to ensure the partner adapts to every change in the distribution model of information. To solve these problems, we propose the OpenPDM-based product data exchange method among heterogeneous PDM systems, which is a concept of a virtual data warehouse that provides data access to all partners in a distributed environment. The method is effective for partners who require real-time access to data residing in multiple heterogeneous PDM systems. We also implemented an integrated PDM system for logically linking product data which are physically distributed, and we used this system in a data exchange experiment.

A Step Towards the Adoption of Standards Within the UK Ministry of Defence

This article seeks to identify the factors that have impacted the adoption of ISO 10303, the Standard for the Exchange of Product Data (STEP), within the UK Ministry of Defence. The analysis presented in this article is based on Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory and the theory surrounding the Economics of Standards. Using a case study approach, the results indicate that several DOI and economic factors have impacted the adoption of STEP. These findings offer insights into some of the technological, organizational, and environmental influences on standards adoption. It is envisioned that these results will make a contribution towards the body of knowledge surrounding the factors and barriers critical to the adoption of standards like STEP, and enable more effective development and adoption of these standards.