Exchange of Product Data of Prefabricated Concrete Structures

As part of efforts to adopt manufacturing automation in a scattered organizational structure the Finnish precast concrete industry has initiated the development of a number of solutions for data exchange. Guidelines concerning various aspects of using computers in the design/manufacturing process were defined in a manual which was widely distributed to involved parties. Standardized neutral file formats for data exchange between dissimilar computer systems were developed for three kinds of data: 1) drawings, 2) tables (e.g. bills of materials) and 3) product model-based data. Translator programs were developed for a number of common CAD-systems as well as a set of software tools to the users of standardized exchange files and software developers. The result of these developments have been widely adopted by fabricators, designers and software developer