What is Product Data Technology?

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	What is Product Data Technology?	PDTAG-AM Product Data Technology Advisory Group ESPRIT 9049
	Short Introduction Industry Sectors Basis of the STEP Approach Economic Benefits The Road to Success

Product Data Technology comprises the application of information technology to all aspects of product developments, manufacturing and operation. It is based on a unified view of information captured in products throughout their life cycle.

Current international developments in this broad field are advancing rapidly and are leading up to new levels of technology in product definition, product data communications, enterprise integration and cooperation. These developemnts will be of strategic significance to all manufacturing industries.

International standardisation based on the product definition standard STEP (ISO 10303) is playing a key role in promoting a modern approach to Product Data Technology. The initial release of STEP, consisting of twelve essential parts, has recently been approved and published as International Standard. The introduction of STEP based software and its application in industry is thus on the verge of being broadly realised.

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Industry Sectors

A unified approach toward Product Data Technology is evolving across practically all industrial sectors. The moste active participants in these developments, especially in STEP standardization at ISO level, include the following industries:

Aerospace
Automotive
Architecture, Engineering, Construction
Electrical and Electronics
Mechanical
Process Plant
Offshore
Robotics
Shipbuilding

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Basis of the STEP Approach

The methodology of product description used in the new international standard STEP, which stands for "STandard for Exchange of Product model data", (ISO 10303) is fundamentally different from earlier generations of product data exchange techniques. Some of the basic assumptions in the STEP approach are the following:

The product model, i.e., a conceptual information model of the product, is described at a semantic level capturing the meaning of the modelling elements in a formalised way, not merely by using syntax conventions (as in current standards like IGES, SET, VDAFS).
This is achieved by using a formal product modelling language, EXPRESS, a data definition language with object-oriented flavour, and by relying on an axiomatic modelling approach. In this approach a pool of primitive, application-independent modelling elements (STEP ressources) is introduced axiomatically. Then all application-specific, higher level concepts are required to be described in terms of these resources by appropriate mappings. The founding of the product models on the same pool of resources is a major prerequisite for the consistency and interoperability of the resulting application-specific information models.
The conceptual product models are described in EXPRESS in terms of entities with attributes, relations and rules and are organised into schemas.
The product model world in STEP is the sum of all standardised, partly independent schemas. The standard remains open and extensible.
Instances of product model data in STEP are exchanged in STEP Physical File syntax (STEP Part 21) or can be accessed and shared via the Standardised Data Access Interface format (STEP Part 22). STEP thus serves as a neutral medium for exchanging and sharing data.
Product model data instances are interpreted and verified with reference to the conceptual models and subsequently converted into any other desired formats. This is doen by STEP processors. They usually consist of commercially available STEP toolkits and of system-dependent software.

More information on STEP can be found at:

Europäische Zielsetzungen in der Produktdatentechnik
Lecture given during 1st Review Meeting of the ANICA project, held on March 4, 1996 (in German)
European Strategies in Product Data Technology
Presentation given during ESoCE Workshop on 11 December, 1995
Other Sources: STEP on a Page European Projects in the domain of PDT (Spain) SOLIS - FTP-Server of the National Institute for Standardisation (NIST) (Mirror at TU Clausthal, Germany) SOLIS - WWW Server (U.S.) International Organization for Standardization - ISO (Switzerland) National Institute of Standards and Technology - NIST (U.S.) IMW TU Clausthal (Germany) ProSTEP (Germany) Siemens STEP Competence Center (Germany) National Initiative for Product Data Exchange (NIPDE) (U.S.) National Product Data Exchange Resource Center (USPRO) (U.S.) Grumman Data Systems (U.S.) PDES Inc. (U.S.) STEP-AU (Australia) Ikeda Lab. (Japan)

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Economic Benefits

The introduction of STEP based methods and systems in Product Data Technology will continue to require major investments of time and cost as well as strategic organisational changes. These efforts must be justified by commensurate economic benefits.

It would be very short-sighted to aim at such benefits only from the application in data echange, although this may be the area of initial success. But the long-range potential of Product Data Technology is much broader. It includes at least the following targets of economic relevance:

Neutral data exchange between heterogeneous systems in-house (open PDT systems)
Neutral data exchange with suppliers and customers (fast response to inquiries)
Long-term archiving of product data (system-independent archives)
Flexible migration policies
Paperless product definition (from graphical to digital documents as primary medium)
Enterprise integration via neutral product databases (CIM)
Support for life-cycle product maintenance
Medium for Concurrent Engineering
Worldwide networking communication of product data in open systems
Modelling platform for intelligent systems

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The Road to Success

The developments toward a new generation of Product Data Technology have gained much momentum, also derived from the STEP standard, but we are still only on the threshold of widespread industrial application and acceptance. The road to full success in our industries will lead progress via certain strategic milestones which must include:

Stable standards (incl. STEP)
Harmonization of relevant standards
Mature software tools
Complete application protocols
Vendor support (by software)
Industry commitment
Market acceptance
Wide distribution of the new methodology

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Index

For further information please contact the PDTAG Secretariat

Last modified: 1996-11-21