Data exchange standards advance

Back-and-forth exchanges of engineering data within the complex web of makers of market-ready electronics products, contract providers of manufacturing services, and suppliers of components and materials just got easier--as well as faster, cheaper and more efficient.

These are the benefits to be gained from a new set of data-exchange interfaces devised by 16 industry, government, and university collaborators and now moving into the realm of Internet-based business practices. The so-called Product Data eXchange (or PDX) suite of specifications was developed by the Virtual Factory Information Interchange Project (VFIP), an effort organized by the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) and led by NIST and two private companies.

In late April, the first PDX specifications passed a major milestone toward widespread industry adoption. The 400-company RosettaNet consortium approved six Partner Interface Processes  that are based on VFIIP-developed interfaces. These same specifications also are progressing toward formal adoption as standards by the IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries, a trade organization with nearly 2700 members.

Use of the VFIIP's technical outputs by both RosettaNet and IPC was pursued from the start of the project. Joint adoption ensures consistency in standards, reducing the potential for incompatibilities that undermine data exchanges and impede progress toward more effectively integrated supply chains. These standards and others under development take Internet-mediated business dealings beyond procurement/order fulfillment and into the domains of design, manufacturing, and assembly.

For more information on the status of product data exchange standards generated by VFIIP to date, visit the NEMI web site at www.nemi.org and click on "Press Kit: RosettaNet Conference Demo." For more information on the project and NIST's participation, contact Barbara Goldstein, [phone]; barbara.goldstein @nist.gov. A description of NIST's technical work can be found atwww.eeel.nist.gov/811/manufacture.html. Information on the IPC's proposed 2570 series of supply chain communication standards is available at www. gencam.org/html/standards/productstds2510.html#2570. Media Contact: Philip Bulman [phone]; philip. [email protected].