This is the ISO committee that governs STEP AP-242.
Spoiler alert, STEP is a framework for industrial data exchange and NOT a file format.
Jennifer Herron
The official scope or aim of the committee is the standardization of content, meaning, structure, representation, and quality management of information required to define an engineered product and its characteristics at any required level of detail. Additionally, there is an objective to understand any part of its lifecycle from conception through disposal; together with the interfaces required to deliver and collect the information necessary to support any business or technical process.
The ISO committee meeting was my first time attending a face-to-face meeting based on the previously mentioned scopes. While contemplating what the meetings may be like, I had an epiphany that standards committee meetings are comparable to being in school. Multiple brains come together to share and train one another. Essentially, the meetings were master classes in data interoperability.
Some aspects of these meetings stood out as particularly important :
- The Committee has published a whopping 793 ISO standards, exerting significant influence over ISO.
- The Cavalcade Day event, of cross-domain sharing, is a crucial moment during the committee meetings. It aims to bring awareness of other standards and efforts in interoperability. The organizations represented in this day are Airbus, Siemens, OPC Foundation, and UMATI.
- For the first time in history, a Digital Twin Roadmap event was held which proved to be wildly popular.
- The global alignment of exact detailing related to industrial data interoperability occurs in this committee.
Standards summary:
- Standards are required to be put into use.
- Standards are going through a rapid transition to accommodate for modern day complexities.
- The usability improvements of standards are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
- For the first time, I saw personas being used outside of Action Engineering work, signifying that companies are beginning to spend more time recognizing their users.
- In an effort to create safer international spaces language has been slowed down.
- There is a harmonization of standards, due to smart creation, cross-pollination of ideas, and automation.
- Nobody shows up to participate in standards like the Boeing Company. I commend them for the participation culture, and I really enjoy working with them.
- Boeing was a particularly present company, being present in nearly every standard consolation while bringing valuable insight.
STEP AP-242 Edition 4 is working on the following updates:
- Domain model
- PMI (Product and Manufacturing Information)
- PDQ (Product Data Quality)
- EWIS
- AP Module 442 Integration
- Composites
- Hybrid Modeling
- UUIDs – A very hot topic with discussions of interoperability from engineering, to manufacturing, to quality (native to CAM to QIF)
Of Note to DMSC:
- ISO 10303-AP 238 (STEP NC) and the QIF Plan need harmonization
I was delighted to represent the 3D data author persona and take part in this event. I was also excited to represent the DMSC committee and discuss how QIF and STEP harmonize together. QIF was able to fill the inspection domain space where ISO 10303 had a gap.
Everyone was friendly, smart, and open to future opportunities. I am looking forward to the next meeting in October 2023, in Saratoga Springs, NY.