Organisation / History (ISO)
STEP - Standard for the Exchange of Product Data - consequently continued the standardizing efforts for product descriptions, which started with IGES back in the 1970s. During the following years, the efforts branched out, but all approaches were stamped by the restriction to graphical and geometrical information.
In order to steer the development away from wild branches and the limited graphical/geometrical description towards a new (overarching) standard for product descriptions, the activities on STEP started in the mid-80s..
The development work has been settled at the ISO, the Technical Committee 184 (Industrial-Automation Systems and Integration), and the Sub-Comittee 4 (Industrial Data). With the active participation of a great number of countries, a series of standards emerged within the following years, which essentially supported the exchange of product-describing data.
A vital precondition for the acceptance of the standards was a successive approach, which enabled all to comment on the development at several stages.
Clear responsibilities made the often long lasting development process for international standards possible.
Today, the daily handling of product data in many companies is unthinkable without STEP. STEP has become widely accepted.