EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS: MARTIN HARDWICK

CRITICAL ISSUES
Common to all manufacturers of durable goods, whether they are large or small or whether the product is simple or complex, is the need to build things to print. Progress has been made in replacing the print with a digital product description.

However, comparable progress has not been made in the numeric controllers used to drive production machinery and fabricate parts. These controllers are still driven by G- and M-codes that date back to the 1950s. These codes do not adequately describe the end product, but merely specify a path of a cutting tool.

A CHANGE TO THINK ABOUT
A new language for computerized numeric control, called STEP-NC, has been under development for ten years and is showing results to think about. It is described by a new ISO standard and has been developed by the same team that developed the successful standard for CAD data exchange.

Leading aerospace companies are using this new language to machine progressively more complicated parts. They are now reaching the stage where they can show that its programs are smaller, faster to machine and easier to check, measure and modify than their G-code equivalents.

The deployment of this new language will follow this path: first, only the biggest users will use the new standard because of the high price of the new software. Second, key CAD, CAM and CNC vendors will begin to implement new interfaces for their software. This is the phase that we are now entering.

During this phase only a few products will be available. Most users will ask, "Where is the new data?" and "Who is using the new standard?", just like they did for STEP. However, when the third and final stage is reached things will change dramatically overnight.

The key vendors will release their new products to the general market and any user – no matter how small – will be able to "Save As STEP-NC" in a CAM system and "Run From STEP-NC" on a CNC control. And they will "Save As STEP" in a CAD system and "Read From STEP" in a CAM system, same as today.

This new machining language includes geometric models of the part being made, the stock, the fixtures and the cutting tools. These models can include tolerances and dimensions that are integrated into the process, meaning they are all aligned and organized as intended by the process planner and "ready to go" with respect to simulation and optimization software.

This is important, because many tools can already simulate and optimize CNC programs, but they suffer from being unnecessarily difficult to use because they require the user to assemble data from many different sources. For example, a CAD file of the product must be matched with a simulation file of the machine tool, a CAM file of the process and a spread sheet of cutting tool data.

NEXT STEPS
So this new programming language is an innovation to consider. If you plan to use the current downturn to retool your enterprise, then an investment in software to support the new standard may be worthwhile.

That investment may stop you from wasting money on other automation projects that will become redundant when the new language is in place. It may help you find new ways to optimize machine tool and cutting tool life. It may help you find new ways to measure your parts while you are still machining and then correct the machining for higher accuracy. It may significantly reduce the cost of prove-out and significantly increase the number of parts that are machined correctly the first time

Finally, it may help you work better with your customers and suppliers because, unlike G-code files, all the geometry in this new software means its programs are portable between machines and enterprises.

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