FROM THE EDITOR: STEP WILL STREAMLINE PRODUCT DESIGN, MANUFACTURING, AND PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE DATA EXCHANGE.

Manufacturing Automation, July, 2003

Traditionally, CAD systems have tended to be focused on creating product design information more than on readily and transparently facilitating the manufacturing of a product. There is a clear need in the marketplace for CAD/CAM systems that seamlessly integrate and facilitate design and manufacturing, allow for efficiently accommodating tool and design changes on the fly, and enable the representation and exchange of digital product information using highly diverse machines and systems.

STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data), an ISO 10303 standard, has key potential for helping bridge the gap between design and manufacturing and for facilitating faster design times, and enhanced communication and management of product data and product life cycle...