The globalisation of manufacturing has led to a need for a common language which can be used throughout the entire product development life cycle. Advanced Design and Manufacturing Based on STEP discusses the most successful of the proposed solutions - the STandard for Exchange of Product model, or STEP. STEP aims to provide a complete computer-interpretable product data format, so that users can integrate business and technical data to support all aspects of the product development cycle, e.g., design, analysis, manufacturing, sales and customer services. Of particular significance is the publication of STEP-NC as an extension of STEP to NC, utilising the feature-based concept for CNC machining purposes.

The contributors to this volume are based in some of the world's leading national research institutes and universities and enterprises. The twenty chapters cover recent research results, and a range of STEP and STEP-NC application case studies from the fields of design and manufacturing.

Advanced Design and Manufacturing Based on STEP will serve as a useful compilation for researchers and students in advanced manufacturing technologies and manufacturing information systems. It offers a range of literature concerning the use of STEP in both design and manufacturing domains.

The Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing publishes the best teaching and reference material to support students, educators and practitioners in manufacturing technology and management. This international series includes advanced textbooks, research monographs, edited works and conference proceedings covering all subjects in advanced manufacturing. The series focuses on new topics of interest, new treatments of more traditional areas and coverage of the applications of information and communication technology (ICT) in manufacturing.

Autorentext

Xun Xu's recent work centres around the deployment of the STEP-NC data model, in replacement of the 50-year-old G-code model, to achieve a total integrated CAD/CAM/CNC scenario. He was invited to chair an editorial panel to lead a Special Issue on "STEP-Compliant Process Planning and Manufacturing" for the International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing.

Associate Professor Xu obtained his PhD from UMIST, UK, and is now a member of the Department of Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Auckland, where he is Director of the Intelligent and Interoperable Manufacturing Systems Research Group, and Head of the Manufacturing Systems Laboratory.

Associate Professor Xu is a member of the editorial boards for several journals, including the International Journal of Production Research and Robotics & Computer Integrated Manufacturing.

Andrew Y. C. Nee has been working on several areas in manufacturing engineering, including computer-aided mould, die and fixture design; distributed manufacturing systems; and augmented reality applications in manufacturing. His most recent co-edited book, entitled Collaborative Design and Planning for Digital Manufacturing, was published by Springer in early 2009.

Professor Nee earned his PhD from the Victoria University of Manchester and joined the University of Singapore the following year. In 1982 he became the first person from outside the USA to be awarded the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer's Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He is currently Director of the Office of Research at the National University of Singapore, as well as chairman of Manusoft Technologies Pte Ltd.

Professor Nee is regional editor of Springer's International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology and of the International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, in addition to being a member of the editorial boards foranother 20 journals in manufacturing engineering. He currently holds the chairmanship of the Scientific and Technical Committee Design and is also a council member.

Zusammenfassung
Design and manufacturing is the essential element in any product development lifecycle. Industry vendors and users have been seeking a common language to be used for the entire product development lifecycle that can describe design, manufacturing and other data pertaining to the product. Many solutions were proposed, the most successful being the Stadndard for Exchange of Product model (STEP). STEP provides a mechanism that is capable of describing product data, independent from any particular system. The nature of this description makes it suitable not only for neutral file exchange, but also as a basis for implementing, sharing and archiving product databases. ISO 10303-AP203 is the first and perhaps the most successful AP developed to exchange design data between different CAD systems. Going from geometric data (as in AP203) to features (as in AP224) represents an important step towards having the right type of data in a STEP-based CAD/CAM system. Of particular significance is the publication of STEP-NC, as an extension of STEP to NC, utilising feature-based concepts for CNC machining purposes. The aim of this book is to provide a snapshot of the recent research outcomes and implementation cases in the field of design and manufacturing where STEP is used as the primary data representation protocol. The 20 chapters are contributed by authors from most of the top research teams in the world. These research teams are based in national research institutes, industries as well as universities.

Inhalt
STEP in a Nutshell.- Feature-based Process Planning Based on STEP.- A Heuristic STEP-NC Based Process Planning Tool for Sequencing NC Machining Operations.- STEPNC++ An Effective Tool for Feature-based CAM/CNC.- A STEP-Compliant Approach to Turning Operations.- Circular Sawblade Stone Cutting Technology Based on STEP-NC.- Open Platform Development for STEP-compliant CNC.- STEP-NC in Support of Machining Process Optimization.- Achieving a STEP-NC Enabled Advanced NC Programming Environment.- STEP-compliant CNC Systems, Present and Future Directions.- Standardised Process Control System for CNC Manufacturing.- A STEP-NC Compliant Methodology for Modelling Manufacturing Resources.- Development of Digital Semantic Machining Models for STEP-NC Based on STEP Technology.- Development of a STEP-NC Network Management Protocol for Decentralized Manufacturing.- A Generic Product Modelling Framework for Rapid Development of Customised Products.- STEP in the Context of Product Data Management.- STEP in the Context of PLM.- Usage of Agent Technology to Coordinate Data Exchange in the Extended Enterprise.- An XML Implementation for Data Exchange of Heterogeneous Object Models.- Module-based Platform for Seamless Interoperable CAD-CAM-CNC Planning.