Initial Manufacturing Exchange Specification (IMES):

The Computer-Aided Manufacturing Engineering (CAME) program is developing a number of integrated software toolkits for design, manufacturing engineering, and production operations [1]. One of these toolkits is the Manufacturing Engineering ToolKit (METK) [2]. The goals of the METK project are 1) to develop generic interface specifications, data structures, information models, and data validation methodology for manufacturing engineering software; and, 2) to demonstrate an integrated toolkit using commercial, off-theshelf software applications. The benefit will be an increase in the productivity of manufacturing engineers, and a reduction in the time required getting error-free, engineering data to the shop floor. The U.S. Navy Manufacturing Technology Program and the Systems Integration of Manufacturing Applications (SIMA) Program [3] at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) jointly fund the METK project.