The International
Standard for Technical Data Packaging and Exchange Management
The ability to
control and share product data in an extended enterprise requires a standard for
packaging an managing all types of product data - that standard is ISO
10303-232. It provides the capability to maintain configuration of the
product information being exchanged among business partners.
ISO 10303, the
international Standard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP),
provides broad capability for the exchange of product data in the electronics and
electromechanical industries.
Why ISO 10303?
ISO
10303 standards facilitate electronic commerce by providing product models for:
- Complete and
accurate data use, exchange and archive
- Consistent and timely data sharing
- Reuse of design, analysis, and
manufacturing data
ISO 10303 STEP
Application Protocols (APs) provide the standard semantics of the product
information while there are multiple choices of exchange formats, such as STEP's
Part 21 and SDAI, CORBA, XML, and others.
Business Use of
ISO 10303-232
Exchange Management
AP232 provides a product data packaging
mechanism that maintains configuration accountability of the product structure,
documents and files that are exchanged among Product Data Management (PDM)
systems.
Supply Chain Impact:
- Total design definition is
identified with links among STEP and non-STEP exchanged product data.
- Can exchange just a portion of
product data and maintain links to overall configuration structure.
Document Content
AP232 provides a packaging/view
mechanism that encapsulates product data into technical documents such as
the Parts list, Data List, Indentured Data List, and Product Data Sets
(Shape). It provides a mechanism to identify drawings and drawing sheets
as documents and tie these documents to their presentation descriptions found in
the STEP AP202 (Associative Draughting).
Supply Chain Impact:
- Key technical documents are NOT just
paper or viewable items, but are computer interpretable which makes them
directly importable into PDM systems.
- A Geometry Model can be maintained
as an independent configured document and not just the defining shape to a
single part.
AP232 Scope
AP232 provides the capability to
electronically exchange groups of product data to facilitate collaborative data
use, file exchange, and synchronization between different enterprises.
This is accomplished by providing Exchange Management and Document Content
functionality. An example of usage would be the data submittal at the end
of a design effort.
AP232 provides different types of
exchange packaging to support different levels of configuration complexity.
- List of files
- List of documents with associated
files
- Product structure with associated
documents and files
Industry Applications
The
initial development work on
AP232 was initiated by the U.S. Air Force under the PAS-C Program.
Industry continued the work to develop an international standard through the PDES, Inc.
consortium and others. Key
participants are Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and the European
Space Agency. The capability of
AP232 to manage the exchange of STEP and non-STEP data is
currently in production in aerospace industry supply chain management.
The
capability of capturing and exchanging Parts List and Indentured Data
List documents is in production testing.
At least three Parts List and Indentured Data List exchange translators
have been developed. Additional commercial translators with increased
functionality are to be available in 2001.
For Additional
Information:
Contact Glen Ziolko
at (972) 946-4664 or ziolkgl@mail.northgrum.com.
Also visit the Technical Library area of PDES, Inc.'s website at http://pdesinc.aticorp.org/aps.html.
last updated: 04/05/01
Contact
PDES, Inc.
