Impact of STEP on the next generation of PDM Technology

In the past year, however, this picture has changed dramatically. PDM vendors, who are essential to industry's adoption of STEP, have started to realise the potential benefits of STEP. Suddenly they realise that sharing data in a neutral form solves most of the "pressing problems" facing them:

1. Integration of a PDM system to CAD/CAM/CAE and ERP/MRP applications
2. Managing data to fine granularity, rather than to 'file' level
3. Providing a consolidated data pool that can be used by multiple applications
4. Enabling concurrent access to the same pool of data from multiple applications

Many STEP technologies such as EPM Technology's EXPRESS Data Manager are already being used as components in product offerings and solutions from PDM vendors. These tools represent the tip of the development iceberg, and more fundamental changes to PDM technology are on the way. The use of STEP mapping tools and data models rather than proprietary ones, makes high quality integration much easier to achieve. Moreover, STEP data warehouses and databases will provide data pools which can easily and reliably be accessed from several applications.

PDM Standardisation

In August 1996 the Object Management Group (OMG) issued a Request For Proposals for "Product Data Management Enablers" with the aim of introducing standards in the area of product data management. By the closing date on 14 April 1997, five responses had been received from the major PDM and CAD/CAM vendors: IBM, Metaphase, Sherpa, Dassault, and Digital Equipment Corporation.

In one way or another, all five proposals rely on STEP. Most importantly, there is a commitment for close co-operation among all interested parties to arrive at one joint proposal that makes use of a unified STEP data model.

This STEP data model, which is referred to as the "PDM Schema", is being developed jointly by PDES Inc. and the European car industry in a project with the aim of consolidating the PDM related components of STEP Application Protocols (APs) related to the mechanical industry (AP203, 214, 209, 210 and 232).

The Role of Industry Consortia

Over the past few years a number of industry consortia have been launched to establish software standards in their industry sectors.

Most of these consortia have defined information models that are very similar to those the OMG is hoping to develop with its PDM Enablers initiative (see figure). Indeed, it may be argued that future implementations of the ensuing PDM Enablers specifications will be consistent with these information models.

Summary

The OMG initiative has demonstrated that vendors who are normally fierce competitors, can work together to solve their common problems and ensure that the resulting joint response will have the best chance of speedy adoption throughout the industry. In addition, although the original goal of the OMG was limited to establishing standard PDM interfaces, the co-ordination with the PDM Schema project and other interested parties means that the result of this standardisation effort is likely to have wider implications.

Dr. Kais Al-Timimi is the editor of the "Engineering Data Newsletter", a publication that has been actively promoting the use of STEP in PDM and CAD/CAM/CAE systems.
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