In 1983, an international consortium known at that time as Computer-Aided Manufacturing-International (CAM-I, Inc.) decided to initiate a Quality Assurance Interest Group for the purpose of investigating the benefits of research in the automation of Quality Assurance measurements and processes.  CAM-I sent out a “call” to more than one hundred companies, users and suppliers, requesting representatives to attend this Interest Group meeting.  The objective of the meeting was to decide if a CAM-I QA research program would be beneficial, and if so, what work should be undertaken.  Approximately 80 representatives attended that first meeting in 1983, each with their own list of concerns and woes related to QA.  The meeting was very productive as the group produced a list of more than 50 key issues that should be addressed within the Quality Industry.  The issues were prioritized by vote, and narrowed down to 35 on the first pass.  Several more rounds of redefining, discussions, and voting narrowed the list to the 10 top issues.  The highest, most urgent issue on the list was the development of a “common communication language between automated inspection systems.”  The intention from the very beginning was to make this language an official standard, a language that could be man-readable-and-writable, and could even be used as the internal language for the CMM Controller.  Thus the CAM-I Quality Assurance Program (QAP) was born.