EL Highlights June 2011

NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) and the Open Applications Group Mark 10 Years of Collaboration

NIST hosted the 2011 spring meeting of the Open Application Group Inc. (OAGi) Consortium from April 19-21, 2011.  This was the 10th consecutive year that NIST has hosted this annual spring meeting of OAGi.  The organization, which develops Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), asupply chain integration standard, continues to grow and expand into new industries including metals, chemicals, and trade compliance.  OAGi now has a total of 50 members with over 3500 standards users from 89 different countries.  Those members are very interested in standards for trade compliance, materials declaration, and cloud computing services. The main theme of this year's meeting was cloud computing.  The major issue was the role that OAGi can play in developing standards to enable cloud computing for the industries it serves.

KC Morris, from the NIST EL, presented an overview of the new testing tools NIST has developed to facilitate the testing of OAGIS 9.5, the latest standards release. Severin Tixier, also from NIST EL, summarized the results of that testing, which was based on the NDR (naming and design rules) test suite used in the previous release, OAGIS 9.  Those results were submitted to the OAGi working group preparing the OAGIS 9.5.  That group will use those results to make changes to the new release, which is a significant extension of previous releases. That extension was necessary to address new requirements from the chemical and metals industries, as well as, broader requirements for the auto industry and their supply chains. Morris also presented an overview of proposed FY12 projects of interest to OAGi members.

OAGi board members including representatives from Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Intel, SAP, and ORACLE also met with Mary Saunders, Director of NIST's Standards Coordination Office.  The group discussed NIST's recent reorganization, its emphasis on improving the standards development process, and its role in cross-domain standards convergence.  

Contact: Simon Frechette, 301 975 3335

NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) Leads Development of Technical Specifications for National and International Standards for Electronic Data Exchange

The Hydraulic Institute or HI (the association of pump industry manufacturers and their software suppliers) recently adopted the AEX XML specifications for automating the exchange of engineering information among engineering, manufacturing and construction organizations.Equipment manufacturers and construction project supply chain participants are often unable to efficiently manage and reliably communicate electronic product and project data.Adoption of the AEX XML specifications will result in reduced costs and improved efficiency for the engineering and supplier production processes and enable equipment suppliers and software suppliers to enhance their competitive positions. 

Researchers from the Engineering Laboratory led the development of the AEX XML specifications in collaboration with the FIATECH Consortium to solve this problem.  After successful testing and pilot demonstrations, the Engineering Laboratory worked with the Hydraulic Institute to deliver the new HI/ANSI standard HI 50.7, "Electronic Data Exchange for Pumping Equipment."  This standard has been adopted by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 

Contact:  Mark Palmer, 301 975 5858

NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) Staff Contribute to Air Force Sustainable Manufacturing Planning Workshop

EL researchers Alkan Donmez and Rob Ivester from the Intelligent Systems Division and Swee Leong from the Manufacturing Systems Integration Division participated in a strategic planning workshop for the U.S. Air Force's Sustainable Aerospace Manufacturing Initiative (SAMI) hosted by GKN Aerospace in St. Louis, MO on April 13-14.  More than 60 participants from industry, academia, and government gathered to identify sustainable manufacturing issues within the aerospace industrial base. Specific challenges and opportunities for improvement were identified in four technology groups: (1) Casting, (2) Forming, (3) Machine Tools and Processes, and (4) Assessments and Life Cycle Analysis. The technology groups also drafted descriptions of potential projects. The challenges, opportunities, and potential projects will guide U.S. aerospace manufacturers, and the SAMI program in particular, in further development of a technology roadmap to achieve the benefits of sustainable manufacturing.

Contact: Alkan Donmez, (301) 975-6618, and Rob Ivester, (301) 975-8324

NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) Researcher to Serve in Leadership Role for Advanced Manufacturing R&D Interagency Working Group

EL researcher Rob Ivester and NIST Senior Economist Greg Tassey have been appointed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to serve in leadership roles for the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Interagency Working Group on Advanced Manufacturing Research and Development (IAM).

Ivester will serve as the Executive Secretary for the IAM.  Tassey will co-chair the IAM, along with Leo Christodoulou, Director of the Industrial Technologies Program at the Department of Energy, and Steve Linder, Director of Manufacturing Technologies Program for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

The NSTC Committee on Technology established the IAM to develop consensus and resolve issues associated with advanced manufacturing policy, programs, and budget guidance.  The goals of the IAM are to (a) identify and integrate technical requirements, (b) conduct joint program planning and coordination, and (c) develop joint strategies or multi-agency joint solicitations for advanced manufacturing programs conducted by the Federal government. The IAM will provide recommendations to the NSTC Committee on Technology and the Director of OSTP regarding the establishment of federal manufacturing R&D priorities, specific agency activities, and expected outcomes to address those priorities. Additionally, the IAM will develop a strategic plan to guide federal programs and activities in support of advanced manufacturing R&D in accordance with Section 102 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010.

Contact: Greg Tassey, 301 975 2663, and Rob Ivester, 301 975 8324

NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) Hosts ASME B5-TC52 Standards Committee Meeting

EL researcher Alkan Donmez hosted a meeting of the ASME/ANSI B5-TC52 Committee on April 27-29, focused on developing and advancing standards for machine tool performance testing. The three-day meeting was attended by representatives from Boeing, Pratt& Whitney, Hardinge, Lion Precision, and NIST. The main agenda items were to finalize technical development of the ASME B5.57 turning center performance testing standard, as well as to harmonize the terminology, test methods, and representation of test results defined by this draft standard with the corresponding ASME standard for machining centers.

In addition, the committee reviewed several draft standards being discussed in the ISO TC39/SC2 committee on test conditions for metal cutting machine tools, and finalized the U.S. comments related to those drafts.  

These standards will provide machine tool users with consistently-obtained machine performance information they need to make effective purchase decisions and to optimize the productive value of 5-axis machining centers used for complex geometry, high value-added parts.

Contact: Alkan Donmez,  301 975 6618