• In The News
THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY ACTION GROUP, a nonprofit trade organization of over 1,500 automotive and truck manufacturers and their suppliers, has successfully tested new technology that allows automakers and suppliers to share previously incompatible product data files used to design auto components. The successfully tested technology has the potential to reduce costs in the industry’s vehicle engineering system by at least $1.4 billion annually. In the test, engineering data was shared among eight companies in North America and Europe. Files, generated on highly customized and configured systems, were shared up and down AIAG’s pilot supply chain without any loss of data or operability. Participants included Ford Motor Co., Renault, Siemens VDO Automotive Corp., Johnson Controls Inc., TRW Automotive, EDS, PTC and Matrix One Inc.

Currently, computer-generated product data is difficult or impossible to read on any system but the ones on which they are created. That forces parts suppliers to purchase, staff and maintain several – perhaps dozens – of expensive product development and computer-aided design systems. The successful “round trip” transaction of Product Data files in the pilot promises to accelerate the push for online engineering collaboration and speed up vehicle development. The AIAG pilot project was funded with a $300,000 grant from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).

In this issue of Business Link, read more about the challenges faced by suppliers in the brave new world of Internet supply chain management and how one NIST division can help small- and medium-sized enterprises grow in a rapidly developing technological environment.

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