STEP-NC System

With the rapid advancement of information technology associated with NC technology, the manufacturing environment has changed significantly since the last decade. However, the low-level standard, G&M codes, have for over 50 years been used as the interface between CAM and CNC, and are now considered as an obstacle for global, collaborative and intelligent manufacturing. A new model of data transfer between CAD/CAM systems and CNC machines, known as STEP-NC, is being developed worldwide to replace G&M codes. In this chapter, we will give an overview of STEP-NC and its related technology, including data models for STEP-NC, CNC systems based on STEP-NC, namely STEP-compliant CNC systems, together with worldwide research status and future prospects.