Beyond Step

This article reviews modern-day computer numerically controlled machines are no longer modern enough. The 50-year-old G and M codes that drive those machines cannot transfer valuable geometric information from CAD and CAM systems, according to a group of experts who are advocating for widespread use of the recently approved STEPNC standard. With the new standard, CAD and CAM applications have the capability to send product information to CNC machines. Today’s global engineering companies commonly pass CAD files back and forth. There are a number of ways for suppliers to translate their own CAD files into a format that original equipment manufacturers can read. The STEP and IGES translation programs have the same problems as human translators. Sometimes, there just is not a one-to-one correlation between words or, in the case of CAD systems, pieces of product data, like geometry features or attributes. IGES and STEP standards have to evolve as fast as today’s engineering technologies are evolving.