【正文】
mentioned standards into a national system (Standard for the Exchanged of Product Model data, or STEP) and in this way unite development of the various interfaces in order to facilitate the seamless transfer of all productdefining data. At present, STEP is still in the development phase. The interface also provides for munication between the individual puter systems. It is quite possible to have no connection between, for instance, the CAD and CAM departments within the same pany because the wrong software was selected without the correct interface configuration. Data files can be lost at the:iiiterface in thus way so that the product is represented inpletely. In this case, data transfer must be terminated pletely or the lost information must be reentered into the appopriate puter system. D. Software With the introduction of data processing, a flood of software suppliers appeared on the market so that the selection of software for use within a pany almost began to resemble a lottery. In the course of further development, however, only a few systems have established themselves, and these can municate with one another via appropriate interfaces. The requirements to be satisfied by the software result from the objectives of the end user. Suitable software packages are available from the suppliers in a more or less userfriendly form to help acplish a specific task, depending on whether a product is to be designed (CAD), production is to be scheduled (CAP), or machining operations are to be programmed (CAM). Wellknown software supplies from the mechanical standpoint include Altium, Autodesk, Cadkey, HewlettPackard, Intergraph, MCS and ZieglerInformatics. At the same time, it is obvious that selection of a system cannot be based on these functions alone. A critical evaluation requires consideration drawings need to be prepared, and whether 2D or 3D geometric data can or should be displayed, not to mention the hardware, possible interfaces (very important), and the system price. E. CAD Mold Design As soon as the customer has transferred the part design to the moldmaker via the appropriate interface, the mold designer can design theiold around thepart. The designer determines the dimension (size) of the mold, ,vhetler moving parts (slides, lifters) are required, and the layout of cooling lines and gate locations, etc. , all in relation to the part geometry. All aspects of the mold design are stored in the puter and can be retrieved at any time, e. g. , by the production or scheduling departments. 。 ② A read program that reads the data, which are in a systemindependent format, and converts theminto the puter users own format (postporcessing). By means of these programs, the users own system can transfer data to all other puter systems that support this interface standard. The following systemindependent interfaces are in use: VDAFS This interface r