Policy Recommendations for Developments in Product Data Technology October 1997 prepared by PDTAG-AM

PDTAG-AM Product Data Technology Advisory Group ESPRIT 9049

4 PDT in European Countries

4.2 France

Alain Bézos

France has been deeply involved in Product Data Technology and Product Data Exchange since about 15 years ago, with the development of a national standard SET, and the set up of conformance testing and certification means for that standard.

Since that time, many industrial companies have been involved in the development, industrialisation and implementation of STEP.

• R&D Activities

  A lot of companies have been involved in various European research projects since 1985, such as:

  • CISIGRAPH and CETIM, in project CAD*I, CADEX, or PRODEX, on geometry and finite element analysis,
  • Framatome and Bertin in Processbase and PIPPIN on process plants,
  • CSTB in projects COMBINE, ATLAS, VEGA, RISESTEP, etc.
  • Dassault Aviation in BRITE EURAM projects on finite difference analysis,
  • MatraDatavision in EUREKA project CAS.CADE,
  • Aerospatiale in SEDRES on system engineering,
  • LISI (University of Poitiers) and MatraDatavision in project PLUS on part libraries definition and implementation,
  • PSA, Renault, Aerospatiale, Dassault are founding members of the AIT initiative and actively participate in many of the AIT projects,
  • GOSET and EspriConcept are involved in the development of specific protocols for the space industry, for ESA and CNES.
     
• Standardisation Activities

  AFNOR has set up a mirror organisation to SC4, where companies are working on the SC4 standards. France has taken some responsibilities over time in the international arena:

  • M. Pons, Aerospatiale, is chairman of ISO/TC184,
  • M. Lebrun, Thomson, is chairman of IEC/TC93,
  • M. Michel, CETIM, is convener of ISO/TC184/SC4/WG8 on Manufacturing Management Data,
  • M. Viel, GOSET, is convener of ISO/TC184/SC4/WG11 on Enabling technologies,
  • M. Pierra, LISI, is co-convener of ISO/TC184/SC4/WG2 on Part Libraries,
  • M. Bezos, GOSET, is convener of CEN/TC310/WG2 on STEP.

  Many companies are participating in the development of PDT standards, such as:

  • Aerospatiale, GIAT Industry, EDF, in PLIB,
  • GALIA and GOSET (automotive industry association) in STEP AP214,
  • Framatome, EDF in STEP AP221,
  • Schneider, CETIM and the University of Savoie in MANDATE.
     
• PDT Implementation and Experimentation

  Some companies, like GOSET or CSTB, have developed EXPRESS and STEP tools, to facilitate the implementation of PDT. The main French CAD vendors, Dassault Systemes and Matra Datavision, are currently implementing AP203, AP214 and AP227, and offering products based on that technology. GOSET, Espri Concept and some other consultant companies are offering services to implement the technology. Experimentation projects are being conducted with the support of the French ministry of industry, involving major companies in the automotive and aerospace industry.
   

• PDT Certification

  A complete certification service was put in place for implementations of STEP AP203, including:

  • development and adoption as a French standard of the definition of the abstract tests for AP203, on the basis of the existing ATS303 document and using the current SC4 methodology,
  • development and qualification of a test tool,
  • official accreditation of the conformance testing laboratory of GOSET,
  • set up of a certification committee in AFNOR.

  This capacity of testing and certification will be extended to other APs in the future.
   

• Technology Transfer

  Many activities are conducted to start PDT transfer to industrial companies and SMEs:

  • publication of a book on STEP in French language,
  • publication of a Newsletter "GOSET Actualites",
  • complete training programme,
  • organisation of an annual conference on Product Data Exchange
     
• STEP Centre

  Association GOSET was established in 1989, by Aerospatiale, EDF, Ministry of Defence, PSA Peugeot, Citroen and Renault. 30 other companies joined the founding members since that date. GOSET has become a well known technical centre for PDT in France. GOSET is involved in a lot of R&D activities, in the standardisation and certification projects, and is leading most of the activities for technology transfer.

  Many French industrial companies, such as Thomson CSF, have committed themselves to use STEP and related standards, as soon as conforming software products are available.

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