Concept of Operations
One of the most prevalent requirements of manufacturing industries today is the need to exchange and share product information within and between enterprises. This becomes almost impossible without a standardized, computer-interpretable method of representing and communicating the data.
STEP provides a common way of defining product data, so it can be easily interpreted and used by application processors throughout the life cycle of the product. STEP is suitable for the standardized exchange of product data through files, as well as the sharing and archiving of product data in databases.
Since the area of application of the STEP standard is so broad, it is issued in sections, called Parts. The Parts known as Application Protocols (APs) define the information requirements for exchange in a designated application area, based on:
the type of product
the supported stages in the life cycle of the product
the disciplines that create and use the product data
the required types of product data
AP 210 provides for:
electromechanical products in a discrete manufacturing context
design, design analysis, and manufacturing planning
electrical, mechanical, and systems engineering
layered products that are substrates
modules
wire harness
electromechanical equipment
Note | AP 210 is a superset of AP 242. |