The 2026 MBE & QIF Summit looks to continue advancing the development of open standards that enable the seamless exchange of Model-Based Definitions and manufacturing quality data.

This annual event brings together experts from academia, government, and industry to discuss challenges, share implementation experiences, and highlight lessons learned across design, manufacturing, and quality assurance.  At its core, the Summit emphasizes a Model-Based approach, where a digital 3D model serves as the authoritative source of information throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Register Today!

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Presentation Topic:
Learn How to Use the Bill of Characteristics (BoC)
as Your Digital Twin Catalyst

Presented by:
Jennifer Herron, Action Engineering

Watch Now: Click Here

Abstract

Catalyze the digital thread with feedback loops made possible by MBD plus QIF to establish an interoperable and automatable Bill of Characteristics (BoC). The Quality Information Framework Version 3.0 defines the BoC as a list of all the characteristics applied to a product. If you work hard to create good GD&T as 3D annotations that robustly enable your producers the flexibility to fabricate your products while still maintaining your design requirements, then that good data demands good interoperability. Model-Based Definition (MBD) is 3D CAD data that is digitally authored to be used automatically by manufacturing and quality engineers and planners to speed up fabrication and inspection in a highly accurate way. You must have the part built the right way while keeping costs low. This is what GD&T was invented for, and now MBD combined with QIF makes that process digital; speeding up time to market and decreasing quality escapes.

This is very cool technology, and no doubt saves time and money during production, but what about your people? There is a benefit. These 3D data transformation techniques increase communication between typically siloed departments, such as Engineering and Quality. Studies show that companies and organizations that communicate effectively are 4.5x more likely to retain the best employees. This is big! Implement technology while attracting and retaining the best talent.

Jennifer Herron, CEO of the leading consulting firm for 3D data transformations presents pragmatic and feasible solutions using today’s technology to two use cases:
1. Automated BoC generation and interoperability
2. Automating engineering changes while maintaining traceability

See a demonstration of authoring MBD in Creo, publishing a QIF file, using QIF (an interoperable format for metrology) to create a BoC, creating a measurement plan using ZEISS Calypso, and measuring using ZEISS CMM and METROTOM, then revise the design, rinse and repeat. Look at the digital twin artifacts needed to establish the digital thread. The combination of the MBD, QIF, and CMM creates digitally persistent characteristics that increase traceability and reduce measurement planning time. The two use cases demonstrated (automated BoC generation and interoperability, and engineering changes) process helps companies who are dedicated to empowering their employees to be faster and more accurate.

Benefits to your business are:
• Increasing product quality by eliminating human error due to manual data re-entry
• Increasing use, re-use, and automation of 3D CAD data
• Increasing product throughput during First Article Inspection activities
• Use digital twin techniques to increase employee communications, thereby increasing employee retention.

Watch Now: Click Here

Jennifer Herron is the CEO of Action Engineering, a registered Women-Owned Small Business specializing in guiding organizations through their transformation into a Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) using Model-Based Definition (MBD). She serves on the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) Board of Directors, which is responsible for the development, maintenance, and support of the QIF and DMIS standards. Ms. Herron has extensive experience with the hardware design for spaceflight and military systems, and as such, is an expert in multiple CAD packages (e.g., Creo, NX, SOLIDWORKS, Inventor). She holds a patent for a snake propulsion mechanism and is the author of Re-Use Your CAD: The Model-Based CAD Handbook. Because standards are the lynch-pin to a digital transformation, she serves on the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) to write standards that empower all industries to do business differently.

EXPERTISE
MBD and MBE Solution Architecture
MBD Pilot Planning
MBD Modeling Standards and Best Practices
Multi-CAD MBD Authoring and Publishing
Multi-CAD MBD and GD&T Coaching
Strategic MBD and MBE Implementation Coaching
MBD Supply Chain Readiness Coaching

CREDENTIALS
Board Member, Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC)
Certified Scrum Product Owner®
Co-Chair, ASME MBE Standards Committee
Engineer in Training (EIT), Missouri
Certified SolidWorks Associate
Patent for Toroidal Propulsion and Steering System (Snake)

The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) member QIF End Users & Solution Providers present QIF Tech Series topics monthly through November 2022.

The webinar series will focus on QIF-centric topics and related subjects related to Digital Manufacturing such as Model-Based Enterprise (MBE), Model-Based Definition (MBD), GD&T and more. The 20-30 minute presentations may be introductory level or more advanced content, and are intended to educate a broad variety of QIF implementers or future users. There will be a 15 minute Q & A session after each of the presentations.

Webinar technical content is provided by both QIF End Users and QIF Solution Providers with the goal of sharing real-life QIF or related implementations by advanced manufacturing operations.

Click Here for all QIF Tech Series Coffee Chats scheduled for 2022.

If you are interested in presenting a QIF implementation case study, please contact DMSC Executive Director, Mark Thomas by email.

The post QIF Tech Series Coffee Chat appeared first on DMSC.

Elysium Major Product Update
Now Supports QIF 3.0

Software company Elysium has announced support for QIF 3.0 (Quality Information Framework) in the latest product update of their 3DxSUITE EX9, available August 1, 2021. This newest update offers primary support of QIF 3.0 with bi-directional translation and validation of the MBD portion. Elysium also supports change detection within QIF, as with any supported format.

Elysium’s inquiries for QIF have grown the over past couple of years and their level of QIF support continues to evolve, responding to increasing customer demand. Annalise Suzuki, VP of Technology and Engagement elaborates, “The MBE first-movers are increasing their MBE objectives from MBD visual aides to leveraging more from semantic information to achieve machine-readable workflows, which is where formats like QIF and STEP AP242 can add lifecycle value for automation. Based on the increased demand in this area, we are excited to add support for QIF 3.0, with continued collaboration from our innovative customers.”

DMSC President, Curtis Brown, reflects on this recent development, “We are very pleased to see continued demand by the MBD community as our valued DMSC solution providers, such as Elysium, respond to their customer’s requests to include QIF 3.0 support.”

“Our multi-CAD exchange and 3D interoperability expertise provide an ideal position to strongly support CAD & QIF connectivity, as well as validation,” says Kentaro Fukuta, Global Business General Manager at Elysium Japan.

As a current DMSC member, Elysium has been jointly working with both customers in industry and metrology vendors for QIF-supported workflows. For more information about Elysium support for QIF, click here.

The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC, Inc.), founded in 2005, is a non-profit consortium organization with the responsibility of developing and maintaining the QIF standard (ISO 23952:2020), and other metrology standards. The broader DMSC mission is to promote, foster, and develop interoperability standards and quality data frameworks for the manufacturing field of digital metrology. The purpose of these digital metrology standards is to positively impact the digital thread for the Model-Based Enterprise (MBE). The DMSC is an ANSI Accredited Standards Developing Organization, as well as an A-Liaison to ISO. The consortium invites participation within the consortium of other standards groups and activities that seek to resolve the technology and other issues of automated (digital) metrology.

Mark Thomas
Executive Director, DMSC, Inc.
mark.thomas@qifstandards.org
585-451-5800

Elysium is a software company that has been in the forefront of 3D geometry handling and data translation for over three decades. With the rapid spread of 3D data and move towards accomplishing MBD/MBE initiatives, Elysium has been providing industry leading 3D interoperability and point cloud solutions throughout the world including industry leaders such as Boeing, Daimler, Alpine F1 Team, Toyota and more than 3,500 other companies.

Elysium also has OEM partnerships with leading companies worldwide.

Elysium has its global headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan as well as R&D and marketing offices in the US and Europe. With more than 90 employees worldwide and a network of international partners and distributors, Elysium solutions have become the de facto standard for many world-class companies.

Annalise Suzuki
VP of Technology and Engagement, Elysium
annalise.suzuki@elysiuminc.com
248-799-9800

###

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Many inspection tools have the capability of automated data collection, which generate mountains of data, traditionally much of which are not put to good use. Modern quality systems, however, can interpret this metrology data allowing for real-time process changes that can lead to increased efficiency and higher quality.

Understanding and using the data is key to making smart decisions in a data-rich manufacturing environment that is moving towards Industry 4.0. Even small and medium sized companies can make quality systems an integral part of the manufacturing ecosystem, an essential element in the Industry 4.0 vision. Sam Golan, CEO of High QA, Inc. explains how contract manufacturers have already brought the promise of Quality 4.0 and Industry 4.0 closer to reality. Read the article (5 minute read).

We are pleased to share this article composed by one of our important DMSC Members for Quality Magazine. For more information about the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC), its working groups responsible for maintaining and enhancing the Quality Information Framework (QIF) standard, or membership, contact Mark Thomas, Executive Director.

The post Software Technology Advances the Practicality of Quality 4.0 appeared first on DMSC.

September 28, 2021 @ 11am ET
Planning Your Model-Based Journey
Presented by Jesse Zahner (Project Specialist, Sigmetrix)

Recorded Presentation: watch now

Abstract

As it relates to QIF, GD&T Advisor by Sigmetrix and Inventor by Autodesk are both tools to help improve the data definition of what gets carried through the Digital Thread, emphasizing adherence to the standards so consuming applications can read and understand it correctly. Semantic definition is also ensured, so that it doesn’t have to be cleaned up during the creation of the QIF.

Jesse Zahner is a Project Specialist at Sigmetrix. He has an extensive background in Model-Based Enterprise and serves as a voice on Sigmetrix’s MBE efforts. Coming to Sigmetrix with a Master’s in Product Lifecycle Management from Purdue, along with prior experience at Elysium and Boeing, he helps guide product enhancement and delivery.

As a student of the piano, Jesse brings the rigor of practicing music to his work at Sigmetrix. Serving as an instructor for MBE content and generating MBE initiatives for Sigmetrix are just a couple ways he helps amplify Sigmetrix’s voice in a booming digital industry.

Recorded Presentation: watch now

The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) member QIF End Users & Solution Providers present QIF Tech Series topics monthly through November 2021.

The webinar series will focus on QIF-centric topics and related subjects such as GD&T and MBE. The 20-30 minute presentations may be introductory level or more advanced content, and are intended to educate a broad variety of QIF implementers or future users. There will be a 15 minute Q & A session after each of the presentations.

Webinar technical content is provided by both QIF End Users and QIF Solution Providers with the goal of sharing real-life QIF or related implementations by advanced manufacturing operations.

Click Here for all QIF Tech Series Coffee Chats scheduled for 2021.

The post QIF Tech Series Coffee Chat appeared first on DMSC.

Autodesk, Inc. recently released AutoCAD Inventor 2022 with a focus on collaboration workflow and automation. Quality Information Framework (QIF) 3.0 support has been added this new release. Previous AutoCAD versions included limited Jupiter Tessellation (JT) file support for exporting Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) data, while this latest version adds support for exporting semantic PMI data as part of a QIF file.

The new Autodesk Inventor 2022 functionality enables you to export a QIF file using the built-in export feature in the AutoCAD Inventor software product. QIF is an ANSI and ISO open standard framework that contains semantic PMI and other metadata. A QIF 3.0 file enables MBD (Model Based Definition) data to be used by downstream applications in manufacturing and quality.

Autodesk’s Knowledge Network explains the new “Export to QIF” feature in Inventor 2022:
Inventor 2022 Help | Export to QIF | Autodesk

DMSC President Curtis Brown comments “…speaking for the DMSC Board of Directors, members of the DMSC, and all those who are QIF supporters, this is great news! We are so pleased that an American multinational software provider has included QIF export functionality for the manufacturing and metrology community.

The known impact of QIF for those pursuing digital engineering and model-based enterprise (MBE) is becoming more of a reality.

Thank you Autodesk.”

QIF 3.0 is published and available as ISO 23952-2020. AutoCAD Inventor 2022, a highly popular subscription-based 2D/3D CAD package developed by Autodesk, Inc, is available for download now.

The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) is an ANSI Accredited Standards Developing Organization, as well as an A-Liaison to ISO. QIF was harvested by the International Standards Organization and elevated to ISO 23952:2020 in August 2020.  The consortium invites participation within the consortium of other standards groups and implementers seeking to resolve the technology and other issues of automated (digital) metrology.

For more information contact Mark Thomas, DMSC Executive Director.

The post Autodesk Announces Support for QIF 3.0 in AutoCAD Inventor 2022 appeared first on DMSC.

The Characteristics Working Group, initiated in July 2020, is co-chaired by Curtis Brown (Honeywell) and Mark Neilson (TechAzul). The participants, mostly from DMSC member companies, are engaged as a joint effort by multiple corporate and academic entities representing various manufacturing industries.

The Characteristics Working Group meets (virtually) twice a month and is currently up to “Revision C” of a 47-page draft standards document.

The group meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 11 am ET. Representatives from up to 20 global companies participate at any given meeting.  Meeting details on this and other DMSC Working Groups can be found on the DMSC Events Calendar.

New participants (including non-DMSC members) are welcome to observe or participate.
Contact mark.thomas@qifstandards.org

The post New American National Standard (ANS) Emerging from DMSC Characteristics Working Group appeared first on DMSC.

The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) announced its 15th anniversary as a globally recognized standards development organization. The DMSC is officially an ANSI Accredited Standards Developing Organization and an A-Liaison to ISO ISO/TC 184/SC 4. It operates as a nonprofit group comprised of member companies, academia, government agencies, and individuals with a primary mission to identify needed standards in the field of digital metrology in order to promote, foster, and encourage the development and interoperability of these standards.

The DMSC, originally known as the Dimensional Metrology Standards Consortium, was founded in an effort to offer continuing support for the Dimensional Measuring Interface Standard (DMIS). DMIS was conceived by the CAM-I (Consortium of Advanced Management International) Standards Committee in 1983. In 1991 DMIS 3.0 was accepted by ANSI, and adoption had already begun by many leading companies. When the CAM-I Standards Committee was eventually dissolved, several of the Committee member companies moved on to form the DMSC in June, 2005. Although DMIS is now considered mature on the development cycle, the standard is still supported by the DMSC and is in use today by multiple manufacturing industry sectors.

The most recent development by DMSC is a digital Model Based (MBD) metrology standard called QIF (Quality Information Framework). QIF is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based schema that enables efficient and effective data exchange throughout the entire manufacturing quality measurement process. In 2018, ANSI/DMSC QIF 3.0 was accepted as an ANSI standard. As the QIF standard has evolved and grown, there has been considerable effort to coordinate and harmonize QIF with other related standards developed by outside organizations. The DMSC has responsibility to develop, maintain, and support the DMIS and QIF standards. The DMSC also charters new Working Groups for possible future standardization.

DMSC President, Curtis Brown, comments “We are extremely pleased that our 15th year anniversary coincides with the anticipated acceptance of QIF 3.0 as an ISO standard. A key measure of the QIF success story has been attributed to broadening our development focus to support an integrated digital 3D model with robust product and manufacturing information.”

For interested parties, the DMSC offers the ANSI/DMSC QIF 3.0 – 2018 as a free-of-charge download.
Visit the DMSC website to download QIF.

Contact: Mark Thomas, Executive Director, DMSC; director@dmsc-inc.org
Organization: DMSC, Inc.
Address: 3245 Latta Road, Number 16595, Rochester, NY 14616 USA
Phone: 585.451.5800
Website: https://qifstandards.org/

Click to Download this Press Release.

The post DMSC Measures Success With 15th Anniversary appeared first on DMSC.

The benefits of automation and business process systemization are made possible with meaningful, semantic data packaged in the QIF format. With Model Based Definition (MBD) data (i.e., PMI, FT&A, etc.) becoming more commonplace, QIF is becoming an attractive complete and unambiguous MBD delivery mechanism for industrial end users. In addition to automation benefits, QIF helps to provide data traceability in this age of Big Data, where traceability is sorely needed. MBE provides a paradigm for organizing this data by mapping it all to a meaningful product definition: the master model-based definition enabled by a product data management system. QIF is designed to instantiate this MBE approach to data management.

This paper was authored by a team of DMSC Board Members and will explain the background for why QIF is needed, and the features built into QIF which will ensure that it is equipped to handle the needs of modern industry.

BACKGROUND

Today’s manufacturing enterprise is plagued with the problem of disconnected, disorganized, and duplicated data. Furthermore, recent advances have seen an exponential increase in the volume of industrial data being generated, particularly data related to computer-controlled systems of all types. Terms like “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT) and “Industry 4.0” describe this revolution in big data. However, fundamental issues exist that need resolution. First, the majority of data is only minimally accessible and is unable to be mapped to data from other domains of a manufacturing enterprise. For example, how does raw data collected from a sensor embedded in a jet engine gets mapped to the machine tool operation which machined the blades or the shaft of the engine? A mapping of this type would require a human-in-the-loop to carry out the association based on a tedious study of the part serial number, then a review of the records for the manufacturing process, then the machine tool reporting logs, and finally then a hand-generated mapping to the machining of the feature in question. Reliance on a human-in-the-loop presents the following issues: it is a tedious process of high cognitive load which introduces errors, it is costly, it is not an efficient use of engineer’s time, and it prevents software algorithms for automatically mining the data for meaningful patterns and anomalies. A second fundamental problem faced in the field of industrial big data is the inaccessibility of the different data formats encountered. Data is stored in a variety of file formats (e.g., PDF, TXT, TIF, CSV, XLS, STEP, JT, IGES, PRT, QIF, XML, etc.). Some of these formats are proprietary, and require costly software tools to access the data. Other formats are common for archival, but are of minimal utility for software data mining (e.g., a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection report stored in PDF format). Therefore, the issue of non-robust data formats prevents industry from easily connecting troves of data to the digital thread.

THE QUALITY INFORMATION FRAMEWORK (QIF)

The Quality Information Framework (QIF) was created by a group of manufacturers, software and hardware vendors, and metrology experts within the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) as a response to this dilemma. QIF is a feature-based ontology of manufacturing metadata, built on XML technology, with the foundational requirement of maintaining traceability of all metadata to the “single source of truth” – the product and all its components as defined in CAD/MBD. It is an open, ANSI standard which includes support for a complete semantic derivative Model Based Definition (MBD) model, measurement planning information, and measurement results information. This characterization allows users to establish a Digital Twin by capturing the duality of aspects of manufacturing data: the as-designed product, and the as-manufactured product – including the mappings between the two aspects …

Click here to read the complete whitepaper.

The post Whitepaper – Why QIF Matters: A Road Map for Digital Manufacturing appeared first on DMSC.

QIF standard benefits MBE in two important ways: (1) automation of cyber-physical processes, allowing faster realization of higher quality products at lower cost, and (2) by providing traceability of massive quantities of measurement-related data to the authority product definition model. Over the last decade, efforts have been made to develop digital interoperability standards that address the connection points for information transfer through the product lifecycle. Through early work in the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC), new data models have emerged and achieved significant maturity levels.

Presentation:  April 3rd, Session #16-B @ 15:35

The benefits of automation and business process systemization are made possible with meaningful, semantic data packaged in the QIF format. With Model-Based Definition (MBD) data (i.e., PMI, FT&A, etc.) becoming more commonplace, QIF is becoming an attractive complete and unambiguous MBD delivery mechanism for industrial end users. In addition to automation benefits, QIF helps to provide data traceability in this age of Big Data, where traceability is sorely needed. MBE provides a paradigm for organizing this data by mapping it all to a meaningful product definition: the master model-based definition enabled by a product data management system. QIF is designed to instantiate this MBE approach to data management.

This paper will explain the background for why QIF is needed, and the features built into QIF which will ensure that it is equipped to handle the needs of modern industry.

The QIF 3.0 standard is available for free download now.

Joining Curtis Brown on the panel will be:
Daniel Campbell (Capvidia, United States)
Curtis Brown (Honeywell FM&T, United States)
Jennifer Herron (Action Engineering, United States)
Robert Brown (Mitutoyo America Corporation, United States)
John Horst (NIST, United States)
Ray Admire (QIF Solutions, United States)

The post Why QIF Matters: A Road Map for Digital Manufacturing appeared first on DMSC.