Research on sharing technology of manufacturing information based on STEP and XML schema

To solve the problem of product data exchange and sharing among heterogeneous systems, the key technologies were discussed, which included manufacturing process information modeling, file conversion from STEP AP203/AP214 to AP224 with the conversion ware of STEP neutral files. CAD systems must output product data with STEP standard. CAPP systems obtained geometry and manufacturing process information of the parts with STEP neutral files, and the corresponding process design was put up. Then By translating the STEP files into corresponding XML neutral files with the criterions constituted by the STEP AP28, XML schema library is setup. Thus, product data exchange and sharing of manufacturing information can be realized.