Review of Classes of Data Exchange, Impediments to Data Exchange and Use of Step for Data Exchange

Due to the shortage of experienced process engineers and need for automation in manufacturing, the role of computers in process planning becomes inevitable. The integration of CAD, CAPP and CAM greatly shortens the product lead time. But true integration of CAD and CAM activities can take place only when the manufacturing information can be obtained from the CAD solid model and hence automate the process planning. The link between design and manufacturing represents a vast field of research, and its growth is crucial to the success of the CAD/CAM industry. This success mainly depend upon the, how reliably the data's are exchanged from various CAD systems to CAM systems. The existence of incompatibilities between information technology systems used in the process of design, engineering and manufacturing has given rise to various data exchange problems. These problems are of particular concern as more and more concurrent design is being undertaken by collaboration of different organizations that utilize different application programs and operating systems. The following section discusses the general problems that are often encountered during exchange of data, which result in increased cost and can be reduced or eliminated through the use of STEP.