President
Costvision Inc.
PDES Technical Advisory Council Chair
The most widely used neutral format for CAD data exchange is STEP (ISO 10303). The new STEP AP203 edition 2 (ed2) for mechanical CAD includes new capabilities such as part Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), solid model construction history, materials data, composite structures, and cataloging data. ISO 10303 is actually a family of related Standards for The Exchange of Product (STEP) model data. The GD&T models have been harmonized with other related standards such as those used for machining and electromechanical design. AP203 ed2 is based on the STEP modular architecture so it shares many models, in particular geometry and Product Data Management (PDM), with related standards such as AP209 ed2 for finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics, and AP210 ed2 for electronic packages and boards. It also shares PDM models with AP233 for systems engineering, and AP239 for product life cycle support. The benefits of the STEP modular architecture include cross-domain interoperability, and a faster update process to synch up with the software revision cycle. The AP233/239 standards are being extended using reference data by other standards bodies such as OMG and OASIS, for the exchange of SysML models and maintenance information, respectively. AP233/239 enable cross-PDM interoperability for information such as requirements, product structure, change management, program/project management, messaging, etc. This talk will give an overview of these new capabilities in STEP, and their potential impact.
Charlie Stirk is the founder and president of CostVision, which is a cost engineering and management software and consulting company. He is Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee of the PDES Inc. consortium that develops and implements STEP standards. He is also member of the INCOSE the professional society for systems engineering, and the CAM-I Target Costing interest group.
