Communication of computerised information Dr. Norman Swindells CEng, FIMMM Ferroday Limited DEPUIS Workshop ENEA,

Digital manufacturing Engineering properties DesignFEA Process plan Cutting tools NC- machine codes

An engineering problem  The integration of different computer systems and operations causes problems of communication  Different programs organise the same data in different ways – everyone makes their own nuts and bolts  The content of a data file is not directly usable by another program

Examples of human communication problems  Does the time of ‘half-nine’ mean: 30 minutes after (U.K.)? 30 minutes before (Germany)?  Does a date of ‘3/5/2002’ mean: Third day of May 2002 (U.K.)? 5 th day of March 2002 (U.S.A.)?  We need more than data items to achieve communication of information without ambiguity or uncertainty

Information specifications : an engineering solution  To communicate information we always need: the data items that represent the information a specification to define the data structure – e.g. a sentence in a natural language a dictionary to define the meanings of the data items  Everyone in a communication process must use the same specification and the same dictionary  A specification for information is called an information model

Types of information models  Two main ways of specifying information about objects in a complex world: Classification models (used in biology, zoology, etc) Object-relationship models (used in model based software engineering)  For computer–computer communications the information models and their dictionaries also have to be computer- processable

Information model  Specifies the structure for the location of the data items that convey the information for a real world situation the syntax of the information:  Specifies the meaning of the information the semantics of the information  Result is a complete information representation A representation can have several presentations  If the representation is written in a computer sensible language then the model is computer-processable

ISO TC184/SC4  ISO TC184/SC4 is the power house that has developed the engineering solutions for information communication by R&D More than 25 countries participating Most global manufacturing sectors Hundreds of engineers and software specialists 25 years of effort ISO Lawrence D Eicher Award 2007  Result is product data technology  Application is information engineering

Information engineering  An engineering solution to an IT problem Specifies engineering information by using computer-processable information models  The information models are: International standards developed by global collaboration Determined by industrial needs Independent from any computer system Computer-understandable within an engineering domain

ISO Standards for information engineering  ISO Product data representation and exchange (STEP) Information models for all aspects of an individual product and for all stages of the life- cycle  ISO Parts libraries (Plib) Information model for collections of products (catalogues, parts lists) and data dictionaries  ISO Data reference library for chemical plant, oil & gas

Structure of ISO (STEP) Product Part 41 Representation Part 43 Process Part 49 Geometry Part 42 Materials Part 45 Generic Resources - for any product Application protocols – Specialisation of generic resources for an engineering need STEP data file Part 21 Engineering software Engineering software

Standards for digital manufacturing Engineering properties 3D- Design FEA Process planning Cutting tools NC- codes ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO

Why is this important  The costs of system integration and information exchange can be very high Equal to gross profits for one small UK company  Estimate of $1bn p.a. for U.S. auto supply chain  Cost of correcting problems is 15 times the cost of avoiding them

How do these costs arise?

Advantages of SC4 Standards  Regain control of information from proprietary software vendors  Reduce inter-operability costs  Increase: flexibility of collaboration and integration choice of partners reliability and longevity of information combination of data from different sources

Modern cutting tools

ISO Cutting tool data representation and exchange  Part 1 Information model for any tool assembly-based on ISO  Parts 2-5, 50, 60 Dictionaries of parts of tool and their properties-using ISO  Part 100 Specification for developing and maintaining dictionaries  Part 150 Usage guide

Conclude  Product data technology using SC4 standards is a global success for manufacturing Reducing costs, increasing data reliability, supporting supply chains  DEPUIS project is showing how to use the SC4 standards for life-cycle management