You have heard before, and will again, the various arguments for the absolute necessity of the interoperability of high-tech functions in manufacturing.  You have no doubt heard indisputable technical reasons why it can’t be done, or shouldn’t be done, or “there’s a better way.”  But, let’s get back to basics – really basic facts which deal more with motivation than technology.  I’ve spoken and written about this issue many times in many places, but I would like to condense the entire picture here into very simple-minded terms:  Manufacturers desperately need systems that are interoperable.  Vendors desperately need their products to sell, and to provide capabilities that competitors do not have.  There it is – an irresistible force against an immovable object.  How do we get around this situation? 

Everybody knows the answer, but few dare to speak it aloud in public.  Let’s just take a look at how our world would work without this answer.  Suppose that each state in the U.S. had its own electrical AC frequency, its own voltage, and its own connection protocols.  No electrical equipment could work from state-to-state, and special products and equipment would have to be manufactured for the requirements of each and every state. 

Suppose each state had its own specified distance between railroad tracks.  Every train would have to stop at the border of every other state to unload its freight and to reload onto train cars with the “local distance” between train tracks.  Imagine the chaos if each state had its own monetary currency; that is, each state had different money values, different kinds of bills and coins? 

Worse yet, what if every state in the U.S. had different weights and measures, or different communications protocols for telephone and electronic equipment.  It would be virtually impossible to make a long distance call between states without long delays, and a nightmare of electronic protocol communication conversions and translations. 

When you think seriously about this lack of commonality, you begin to understand the wisdom of the Europeans in creating a common currency, along with eliminating many other restrictions between the European nations. 

Are you beginning to glimpse the “answer?”  Yep!  Standards!

Standards make trade possible! – on every level – especially internationally. Without standards, there could be no trade, no commerce, and indeed very little prosperity.  Standards boost competitiveness, and increase creativity in may ways, one of which is simply leveling the pre-competitive playing field and providing the incentive to create products better, faster, and cheaper within the framework of specific technology domains.

Some people may think that a competitive edge is gained by taking an existing standard, and “modifying” it to their own specifications.  That, of course, defeats the very purpose of a standard.  Just imagine how such actions would affect the world of communication protocols, or standard weights and measures.  It is a common enough practice, to everyone’s detriment, because arbitrarily modifying an accepted standard, developed by industry consensus, is tantamount to undermining the integrity of the standard, making transportability and interoperability of products using that standard difficult-to-impossible.  Yet, it is the oldest game on the books.  One of the world’s giant manufacturing companies started this practice once upon a time, and tried to justify their actions by saying, “We don’t need standards.  Our next product IS the standard.”   Fortunately, they learned better rather quickly. 

Still the practice continues, fortunately to a more limited degree, for the very purpose of inhibiting transportability and interoperability between commercial products.  The strategy behind such “arbitrary modifications” in current standards is to encourage the customer to use “single source” products – since they won’t work with any other product.  At first glance it seems a workable strategy to increase sales.  A more in-depth study reveals drawbacks and disadvantages in the extreme.  A very experienced colleague at a large automobile manufacturing company has said publically, “If you go the single-source route in purchasing manufacturing tools and software, either you have to run their business, or they will run yours.” 

We have always had this “irresistible force and immovable object” situation at all levels of commercial and technology development.  The railroads had to agree on a standard distance between the rails.  There had to be standard weights and measures or how could anything be sold by weight or volume.  There had to be standards in electrical connection, and telephone communication protocols, and the industry had to develop them. 

With today’s comparatively ultra-high-technology, such standards are not only more necessary, they are absolutely essential.  When the manufacturers and the vendors come together and develop pre-competitive standard communication protocols, such as the Dimensional Measuring Interface Standard (DMIS), and agree to use the standard as written without arbitrary non-standard modifications, then total interoperability is nearer to reality. 

The TIP:  Support your local metrology standards developing organization (such as the DMSC.)
www.dmsc-inc.org
      
The TRICK:  Consider standards interoperability opportunities in your company’s near and long-range development planning, that will reduce conversion costs and lost time.