Process and quality planning are prerequisites for the production of qualified products at competitive cost. Today´s document-based work methods are not effective as valuable time is spent on document creation and document management instead of being spent on innovation and process improvements. Information duplication is an inevitable consequence with current document-based work methods where the same information is described in different ways, at many places, across many different documents. This paper presents a model-driven approach where vital manufacturing information is described once, at one place, and in one way, enabling improved work methods for cross-organizational process and quality planning.

Today, for development of product and production, computer-aided design and manufacturing (CADCAM) maintain a significant role in interaction activities between human and computers. The major objective of computer-aided technology is to simplify engineer's work in collecting, using, and sharing information so that human can maximize the usage of their unique abilities, e.g. creativity and innovation. User experiences (UX) will substantially determine outcomes of such intellectual engineering activities during human computer interaction (HCI) with the CADCAM systems. Usability is a key feature of software ergonomic, and has been standardized as an important property of software quality. Concerns for usability of all kinds of ordinary software interface have been expressed by a lot of studies. Evaluation is always a central activity when practicing usability in an iterative product development process. It can be expected that employment of usability evaluation for CADCAM will be highly valued towards a better level of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Nevertheless, researches involving usability in this particular domain are very rare. This paper reviews a limited number of publications with such concerns and investigates the current context of use of CADCAM software. Then existing evaluation techniques are introduced and discussed for their feasibility in manufacturing industry based on previous studies.

Information management for manufacturing resources such as cutting tools is an important research topic in the context of cloud manufacturing. Vendors and customers usually use catalogues to communicate information for such manufacturing resource. Incompatibilities of information in syntax, semantics, and structure among supply chains often result in inefficient manual sharing and management of the catalogue information. It is difficult for cloud based applications to pool information from various sources. This communication failure calls for a system neutral solution for data modeling and exchange to enhance interoperability of the cutting tool catalogue information. Previous studies has present solutions for representation of the cutting tool information with STEP AP242 (ISO/DIS 10303-242) with semantic classification referring to a PLib (ISO 13584, Part Library) based dictionary. This approach can be extended for the catalogue modeling, due to functionalities for specification and configuration control of general product variants in the same standard. With a modeling approach with standardized information schemas, system architecture to guide implementation is proposed to enhance the communication in practice. Relative elements to represent vendors' catalogues and customers' requirements are modeled. Associations to the PLib-based dictionary complete semantics and enable information mapping between vendors and customers. Principles of the mapping are identified to facilitate implementation of related software systems. Prototypes are developed to verify the proposed system architecture. The proposed solution is promising to migrate to other types of products than cutting tools, because the data models are based on the general product models defined in AP242.

Industry needs a system neutral solution for exchange of kinematic models. In this article, the first known valid implementation of kinematic mechanisms based on ISO 10303 Standard for the Exchange of Product (STEP) is presented. The result includes an implementation framework and two developed prototypes. Two major challenges of standard-based development are identified and generalised: data integration and system integration, which are solved by the framework. The two prototypes are implemented to establish kinematic data exchange between Siemens NX® and STEP-NC Machine^TM via STEP AP214 files. Experiences of design and development of the applications are presented, and a validated case study of data exchange using the developed applications is shown. There are other attempts of using STEP as basis for modelling, but as the first valid STEP implementation on kinematics, this approach demonstrates the feasibility of pure STEP-based data exchange for kinematic mechanisms. The prototypes also show potential of utilising the framework for general standard implementations. The research is expected to motivate deeper understanding and extensive applications of the STEP standard in industry and academia.

Standardised information modelling is currently an important solution of enhancing the interoperability of computer-aided technology (CAx) systems in the manufacturing industry. The success of this solution is critically dependent on the complexity of data structure and implementation methodology. This study presents development architecture, STEP toolbox, which enables users to implement information standards via a simplified process with minimised knowledge requirements. This study starts with an analysis of relevant user groups for different types of tasks and knowledge requirements. Then STEP toolbox is presented as the simplified development architecture that consists of conceptual modelling and an object-oriented application programming interface (API). It is more convenient for typical developers than the conventional implementation methodology. Based on results from test cases for implementing three prototypes, a two-month learning process required for average developers of the information standards is expected to be eliminated.

For cutting tool data exchange in manufacturing CAx (Computer-Aided technologies), standardized representation and classification of items and properties is important. ISO 13399 (Cutting tool data representation and exchange) provides a solution to represent cutting tool data classified with an ISO 13584 (Parts Library, PLib) based dictionary. However, ISO 13399 does not support classification of shape geometry directly, which limits its use. Another limitation is representing GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) as simplified general properties, which does not fulfill high semantic precision and validation rules. This research provides a unified solution to represent cutting tool parameters integrated with geometry and dedicated properties based on STEP AP242 (ISO 10303-242 Managed model-based 3D engineering). Standardized libraries such as the ISO 13399 dictionary can be reused with the modeling approach for AP242 cutting tool representation. Software is developed to validate and demonstrate how this solution facilitates the data integration process to support CAx applications.

Kinematic error is one of the major sources affecting geometric accuracy of machine tools motion. Component error and location error are common concepts to characterise kinematic error for both linear and rotation axes. With the second edition of STEP p105 currently under development, kinematic error can be associated directly to corresponding kinematic pairs. Based on the conceptual ontology model, a practical approach is introduced for standardized kinematic error modelling and implementation. Through integration with geometry, assembly, kinematics and classification, a developed application demonstrates and evaluates data representation and exchange for kinematic error. As STEP AP242 is a generic model for any product or manufacturing resource, additional modeling constraints are applied to achieve unambiguous data representation.

The demands on in-process 3D monitoring in ceramic micromanufacturing industry require a high-precision, non-destructive, rapid and automated inspection technique for measuring the thickness of component layer, determining the shape and dimensions of the embedded 3D structures, and detecting the de-bonding, cracks, warping and deformation. One of the promising metrology techniques is optical coherence tomography (OCT). With the dedicated image processing algorithm and the industrial product data exchange standard, the model-based integration of OCT as a new metrology tool is demonstrated. As a generic standard for any product or manufacturing information, ISO 10303 STEP AP242 is employed for the measured data model. Unambiguous data representation is achieved by integrating additional modelling constraints. The proposed framework allows fully using the technical advantages of OCT to in-process 3D monitoring.

In this paper, the first known valid implementation of kinematic mechanism based on STEP(ISO 10303, STandard for the Exchange of Product data) is presented. The result includes a generalconceptual framework and two developed prototype applications. The framework is designed forintegration of the STEP-based kinematic mechanism modeling with existing commercial CAxsystems. The two applications are implemented for kinematic data exchange between Siemens NXand STEP-NC Machine via STEP AP214 (ISO 10303-214) files. Experiences of design anddevelopment of the applications are presented in this paper, and a valid example of data exchangeusing the developed applications is shown. As the first valid STEP implementation on kinematics, itdemonstrates the feasibility of STEP-based data exchange for kinematic mechanism. The researchresult can also motivate deeper understanding and wider application of the STEP standard in thefield of digital factory.