STEP Tools, Inc. Joins ISO Community at STEP Meeting in Stuttgart, Germany
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Belinda Jones, 860-767-9506
HiTech Marketing LLC
belinda.jones@hitechmarketing.com
Product data specialists from around the world meet to advance the STEP International Standard
Troy, New York - June 17, 2003 -
STEP Tools, Inc. announced today
it will attend the ISO STEP meeting being held in Stuttgart, Germany,
the capitol of the German automotive industry, on June 22-26, 2003.
Dr. Martin Hardwick, president and CEO of STEP Tools, and Dr. David
Lofreddo, Vice President of Product Development, will join the international
team of more than 200 data structure experts who meet three times per year
to maintain and advance the STEP (Standard for Product Data Exchange)
standard. STEP Tools spearheads the development of STEP-NC effort in
North America, and is a highly visible participant in the global STEP
community. Dr. Martin Hardwick is the international team leader of the
STEP Manufacturing group. Dr. Loffredo is the deputy leader of the
working group responsible for STEP Implementation Methods.
Dr. Hardwick will convene with the STEP Manufacturing team that is
comprised of highly technical industry professionals who deliberate top
implementation issues for manufacturing. He will talk about the new STEP
Index Library (STIX) and its relationship to STEP-NC and the emerging
Manufacturing grid. STIX is a C++/COM library of useful functions for
creating and modifying applications using STEP-NC (AP-238) machining data.
This free, downloadable library gives developers of Open Architecture
Controls and other applications easy access to the NC data defined by
STEP-NC. The software program was created by STEP Tools to simplify and
expedite AP-238 programming, lower the learning curve for newcomers, and
saving time for STEP experts.
Dr. Hardwick will also discuss the new software version of STEP-XML
binding (Part 28) and explain how it produces XML that is more similar
to ebXML. Other topics include discussion about the German model for
Production facilities, as well as the progress of getting CAD software
vendors to write GD&T data for STEP and STEP-NC. Dr. Hardwick will also
cover the results of its STEP-NC technology meeting cohosted with NIST
(National Institute of Standards and Technology) at their headquarters
in Gaithersburg, MD. Members of the STEP-NC Industrial Review Board and
attendees from major U.S. manufacturers, machine tool companies, and
software developers observed a series of "firsts" in the progression
of STEP-NC demonstrated at NIST's Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL).
STEP-NC technology is expected to eliminate some of the most troublesome
bottlenecks to manufacturing productivity ¾ cumbersome post processors,
antiquated G & M codes, data redundancies, multiple CAD files, and more.
The international standard is expected to usher in a new era of manufacturing
automation in terms of productivity, safety, reliability, and CNC machine tool
usability and interoperability.
About STEP and STEP-NC Standards
STEP (STandard for Exchange of Product model data) is a comprehensive
ISO standard for CAD design data. STEP-NC, the manufacturing extension
of this standard, annotates the design information with manufacturing data.
STEP became a full ISO standard in 1994, and since then, all of the leading
CAD software vendors have implemented STEP data translation. It is estimated
that more than one and a half million CAD stations now contain STEP data
translators. STEP-NC is on its way to becoming a Draft International
Standard in 2004.
About STEP Tools, Inc.
STEP Tools, Inc. is a leading international supplier of professional
STEP software toolsets (based on ISO standards) for application
software developers, design firms and manufacturing companies in
diverse industries. The STEP Tools product line is used by the world's
foremost firms to leverage STEP and STEP-NC technology to facilitate
the sharing of engineering product information. Over one million end
users utilize product data applications built with ST-Developer, the
company's flagship product. The company offers a suite of software
solutions in several languages that integrate with existing tools and
database systems, and also provide cross-platform compatibility and
ease-of-use for streamlined development. The emerging STEP-NC
technology is yielding process improvements including a 35% reduction
in path planning time, a 75% reduction in paper drawings generated for
the shop-floor, and a 50% improvement in machining time for small to
mid-sized job lots. For late-breaking information, contact STEP
Tools, Inc. by calling (518) 687-2848, email: info@steptools.com or visit www.steptools.com.
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