ISO and quality management

I ran across an interesting blog by Michael Rappaport on the IQS website. He talks about one of the lesser-known ISO standards – ISO 16792:2006 – discusses its beginnings and where it is headed in the coming years.

The standard was adapted from ASME Y14.41:2003, and developed to apply existing requirements developed for 2D presentation equally to the output from 3D models. During the drafting, ISO officials recognized the need to support drawings in conjunction with 3D models now and for the foreseeable future. That was what ISO 16792:2006 addressed, by defining two methods for documenting digital models and specification of requirements to ensure that the information in a data set is consistent between the model and the drawing.

The introduction of ISO 16792:22006 standardized model based definition (MBD) within the ISO standard and software companies needed to address it, and they continue to do so. One example of a recent release is SOLIDWORKS’ MBD, which helps define, organize, and publish 3D PMI, including 3D model data in industry-standard file formats, guiding the manufacturing process directly in 3D.

But what quality managers need to be aware of today is there are updates that may come to ISO 16792:2006 in the coming years. Rappaport states that, “we can expect ISO to update this standard to accommodate emerging technologies. When product-definition data practices shift, our quality management system has to be able to pivot likewise and remain compliant at an acceptable cost. One way to prepare ourselves to adapt is to have enterprise quality management software (EQMS) in place.”

Today might be a good time to read what Rappaport is discussing.