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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One of the goals of the recent MBE/QIF Summit was to encourage dialogue among proponents of two standards – the STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product model data) community and the QIF (Quality Information Framework) community. Individually, both standards are well-known in the industrial manufacturing universe, and each comes from different starting concepts on the design vs quality approach to manufacturing.

What Are STEP and QIF files?

STEP files are vendor-neutral CAD files that contain product data, including geometry, assembly information, PMI (product and manufacturing information), and other metadata. QIF also starts with CAD data but is focused on communicating manufacturing and inspection data.

Both ISO standards, STEP and QIF are standards that are accepted by companies that have moved ahead with a Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) as a strategy. However, such forward-thinking applies to a small number of large companies that understand the vision and the benefits of how MBE will benefit their bottom line. The decision to move to MBE is an important corporate strategy and has major effects on corporate critical processes and ways of thinking about the whole process as one, which leaves uncommitted companies cautious about starting the MBE journey.

Is One Better than the Other?

As essential as both STEP and QIF are in an MBE environment, there is confusion about which standard is the “right one.” In some cases, the decision is made using a specific point of view as the starting point, and a comprehensive understanding of STEP and QIF eludes some companies as they examine their own MBE implementation.

The confusion about whether to use STEP or QIF as strategic tools continues and has hampered the widespread implementation of MBE. Each standard has advantages and disadvantages, leaving companies feeling like they need to make the decision “either.” In reality, STEP and QIF can work together and, indeed, may be found to be complementary standards that support a MBE strategy.

Better understanding is the key. At the 2024 MBE/QIF Summit, experts started a conversation on harmonizing STEP/QIF functionality and usage within the manufacturing community. At this point, the formation of a discussion group is in the early stages. Representatives from PDES, Inc., DMSC, Inc., and the user community are forming a discussion group to work through technical issues and dispel misconceptions.

Sam Gambrel (Lockheed Martin and DMSC BoD member) is monitoring these early discussions on behalf of DMSC.

Expect to see future DMSC announcements about this important discussion group.

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The 2025 MBE & QIF Summits are returning to Chicago at MxD April 15-17, 2025.

Interested in attending? Contact DMSC’s Mark Thomas to be notified when further details become available. Attendees of the 2024 event will automatically be notified.

The Summits provide a platform for participants to discuss challenges, implementation issues, and lessons learned related to design, manufacturing, quality assurance, and sustainment of products and processes when a Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) approach is used.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Connected Systems Division organizes technical content for the MBE Summit, and the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) organizes technical content for the QIF Summit. The DMSC is a member-funded, non-profit organization focused on developing and supporting interoperability standards and quality data frameworks for digital metrology in manufacturing. The DMSC’s Quality Information Framework (QIF) standard is at the heart of its mission of interoperability and providing traceability of quality data.

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With the acceleration of worldwide QIF adoption and the emergence of more solutions and solution providers, QIF is a strategic digital metrology choice for companies looking to implement Model-Based Enterprise (MBE). Users are increasingly implementing QIF in their organizations, and every day, new QIF implementations are being engineered and deployed, showing that QIF has become a mainstream technology.

Our current thinking is that an in-person QIF event would provide QIF users with a forum to discuss best practices, learn new QIF solutions, understand new features coming with QIF 4.0, and a roundtable to discuss QIF concerns, strategies, and future needs.

The venue for this event is currently being considered, and a mid-April 2024 is the target date.

Your suggestions and comments are requested and appreciated! Please direct them to DMSC Executive Director Mark Thomas via email.

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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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November 30, 2021 @ 11am ET
Using QIF for Efficiency Gains Today and Tomorrow!
Presented by Colby Finn (VP of Strategic Marketing, QVI/OGP)
and Tom Groff (Chief Technology Officer, QVI/OGP)

Recorded Presentation: Watch Now

Abstract

Advanced software packages are enabling huge efficiency gains for manufacturing enterprises by leveraging the QIF standard. Learn about the time saving tools available today including:

Objectively communicating design intent downstream
Automatically creating & executing measurement programs
Maintaining traceability throughout the product life-cycle
Enabling root-cause analysis

In the future, even more efficiency will be gained as the QIF standard and its users continue to evolve. We will cover how we see the future of QIF increasing transparency and productivity in both metrology and manufacturing in general.

Colby Finn is the Vice President of Strategic Marketing for QVI and has been with the company for 14 years. She has had many roles at QVI including working in applications engineering & product development. Colby has an MBA from St. John Fisher College and a BS in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Tom Groff is the Chief Technology Officer and VP, Product Development for QVI, and is responsible for maintaining the organization’s product roadmap for both metrology software products, and measurement system hardware products. Tom has previously held the positions of Corporate Accounts Manager, Corporate Product Manager, Director of Quality, and VP of North American Sales with Quality Vision International (QVI) and its Division, Optical Gaging Products (OGP).

Mr. Groff’s professional education includes a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, as well as an MBA with an emphasis in technology management from the University of Phoenix. Tom also holds a Black Belt certification in Lean/Six Sigma.

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.

If you are interested in presenting a QIF implementation case study in 2022, please contact DMSC Executive Director, Mark Thomas by email.

The post QIF Tech Series Coffee Chat 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.

Jennifer Herron, CEO of Action Engineering (Golden, Colorado, USA), will present at the virtual 2021 Metromeet Conference March 25, 2021 on applications of the Quality Information Framework (QIF): “How this new ISO standard can be used for interoperability of 3D metrology data”.

At the 2018 ISO / TC 184 / SC 4 Committee meeting in Chicago, the ISO committee accepted the submission of Quality Information Framework (QIF) for the Fast Track Ballot process. In July 2020, ISO approved and entirely harvested the ANSI/DMSC QIF v3.0 standard. The new standard is called ISO 23952-2020, “Automation systems and integration — Quality information framework (QIF) — an integrated model for manufacturing quality information.” This standard is intended to help advanced manufacturers reduce costs, offer a common format for product measurement results, and is a critical enabler for digital transformation via MBE (Model-Based Enterprise).

Ms. Herron is on the DMSC Board of Directors, and is a subject matter expert in Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) for multiple CAD packages, such as Creo, NX, and SOLIDWORKS. Additionally, Jennifer is a contributing member of multiple industry standards committees, and is the author of the book “Re-Use Your CAD: The Model-Based CAD Handbook”.
More about Action Engineering

Metromeet is an International Conference on Industrial Dimensional Metrology since 2005 and a key meeting point for Metrology professionals. Traditionally held in Bilbao, Spain, the 2021 event will be held virtually on March 25, 2021.
More about Metromeet 2021 + Registration

DMSC, the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium, is the developer of metrology-related standards such as QIF and DMIS. DMSC is a nonprofit, member owned corporation with the mission to develop new metrology standards, support current standards, and coordinate and harmonize with other related standards efforts.
More about Digital Metrology Standards Consortium

Contact the DMSC Executive Director, Mark Thomas with additional questions on DMSC membership and our current standards development work.

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