STEP Tools, Inc. and NIST To Host Pivotal STEP-NC Demonstration

NIST Headquarters, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, June 4 - 5, 2003

Troy, New York -- May 14, 2003 -- STEP Tools, Inc. released its official agenda for the 7th meeting of its Industrial Review Board for the progression of STEP-NC technology. On June 4 & 5, 2003, STEP Tools and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) will cohost the meeting to be held at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD. The event and STEP-NC demonstration will take place on June 4, 2003 in the Shops Conference Room (Room 126) in the Shops Building (Building 304) of the Main Campus. 

STEP Tools and NIST will demonstrate STEP-NC technology for industry leaders and introduce new tactical manufacturing features. The STEP-NC demonstration will focus on a complex surface model provided by Boeing that will be milled on a 5-axis CNC machining tool. STEP Tools and NIST will show the rapid conversion of AP-203 (STEP) models into AP-238 (STEP-NC) CNC-independent control data containing tolerances using a software program called ST-Plan. Also, for the first time, the ST-Machine plug-in for MasterCam software (CNC Software, Tolland, CT) will be featured to generate toolpaths and output CNC code. STEP Tools will also feature the new STEP Index Library and show how it is used to control a probing and inspection application on the machine tool.

The overall theme for the STEP-NC initiative is integration...from design to manufacturing. With the use of full fidelity STEP-NC data as direct input to a CNC machine tool, many bottlenecks to manufacturing productivity will be eliminate such as cumbersome post processors, antiquated G & M codes, data redundancies, multiple CAD files, and more. The international standard will usher in a new era of manufacturing automation in terms of productivity, safety, reliability, and CNC machine tool usability and interoperability.

NIST is a member of the STEP-NC Phase One Implementers program. STEP Tools spearheads the development of STEP-NC effort in North America, and is a highly visible participant in the global STEP community of over 200 independent product data specialists. Dr. Hardwick is the international team leader of the STEP Manufacturing group.

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 2003.

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. 

www.steptools.com

 

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