The Application of STEP as a Standardized Interface for Rapid Product Development

An overwiew of the STEP standard and its possible application in the field of Rapid Product Development has been given. An example for an integrated process chain for the production and quality assurance for a Rapid Prototying part has been presented. The information exchange between different systems is realized using the STEP-standard. Commercially available STEP processors for the exchange of Geometry and Topology are combined with extensions which enable the exchange of tolerances, material and surface information. An new and more efficient way of generating inspection programs for coordinate measuring machines has been presented, which is based on the extension of the CAD-system CATIA by modules for handling tolerances in 3D-mode. Tolerances are directly linked to the corresponding geometric elements using the STEP tolerance model. This information is used in the commercially available off-line programming software audimess in order to generate NC-programs for dimensional inspecti on of prototypes efficiently.