Innovative Computer-Aided Manufacturing

CAM to CAM data exchange is highly desirable as a way to make manufacturing operations more flexible. Today, many enterprises have only one brand of CAM system. This makes sub-contracting work between enterprises difficult, and manufacturing processes fragile because a part cannot be made if anything is wrong with the systems used to produce and process the CNC data. Many enterprises have implemented CAD to CAD data exchange, but CAM to CAM data exchange is more difficult because of the large range of data that has to be exchanged. In this program STEP Tools, Inc will use recently developed new technology to implement reliable CAM to CAM data exchange. In Phase I the technology will be demonstrated by round-tripping an Army data set between Pro/Engineer and Mastercam. In the Phase I Option STEP Tools will apply the technology to the data of a second enterprise. In Phase II STEP Tools will implement a robust reliable system for CAM data exchange that can be marketed to industry and the DoD in Phase III.