He cites three standards as playing a key role. According
to Swope, one of the most successful standards in
the adoption of a digital product design is ISO 10303,
Industrial automation systems and integration – Product
data representation and exchange, often referred to as
STEP. ISO 10303 comes under ISO/TC 184/SC 4 on industrial
data. STEP has evolved into the most commonly used
standard for exchanging product design data between
computer-aided design (CAD) systems, both inside
companies and across the global supply chain.
He says : “ As the heart of the product design and
deliverable from engineering to manufacturing, the
three-dimensional representation of the product
design coupled with the engineering requirements
and manufacturing information form the core of the
digital twin.” This collection of data for a detailed virtual
representation has clear benefits. At Boeing, Swope says,
“ the product design is distributed to both internal and
external stakeholders at the component and assembly
level and this standard is critical to that network ”.
Disseminating complex data on product design for
general instruction, training and documentation
is another big challenge. Here, Swope highlights
ISO 14306, Industrial automation systems and integration
– JT file format specification for 3D visualization,
which is also managed by ISO/TC 184/SC 4. He says
the standard is invaluable in providing what he
describes as a “ lightweight version ” of a complex data
structure such as the visualization of the product for
manufacturing, service and support, which “ is useful
in engineering documents, online service manuals and
manufacturing stations ”.
The third standard, ISO 32000, Document management
– Portable document format, “ is a strong partner to both
ISO 10303 and ISO 14306 ”, says Swope. This standard,
commonly known as the PDF standard, is, he adds,
vital to the seamless operation of the digital future as it
provides a universally accepted conveyance vehicle for
the product design and its associated information.
Finally, ISO 8000, Data quality, and ISO 22745, Industrial
automation systems and integration – Open technical
dictionaries and their application to master data,
are significant enablers to smart manufacturing. As
ISO 9000 is to manufacturing quality, ISO 8000 is to
data. Smart manufacturing requires data free of defect
and openly shareable data definitions of commonly
used parts. ISO 22745 provides a multi-industry solution
to sharing definitions of these common parts for use
across the supply chain.
