Development of STEP-NC for intelligent machining

G-M codes have been used since decades and now have become obstacle in intelligent manufacturing. G-M codes only gives motion to the tool across the workpiece. It does not provide high level information of operation and feature to the machinist, who is completely unaware of operability of these codes. Standard for Exchange of Product model data (STEP) evolved as one of effective means of product data exchange for linking different stages of CAD/CAPP/CAM chain. STEP-NC is the upcoming numeric control, based on STEP standards. This articles aims to provide an insight view of STEP-NC, which has been standardized in two formats, the first is ISO 14649 (ARM format) and the second is ISO 10303-238 (AIM format). This article also discussed the development for interface for STEP-NC (AIM), to generate toolpath programming for machining outer contour of part having linear and circular profile. The interface is implemented using Java Standard Data Access Interface (JSDAI™) and the generated codes are verified on STEP-NC Machine^™.