ASME Y14.41-2003

ASME Y14.41 is a standard published by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to establish requirements for model-based definition upon CAD software and those who use CAD software to create product definition within the 3D model. ASME issued the first version of this industrial standard on Aug 15, 2003 as ASME Y14.41-2003. It was immediately adopted by several industrial organizations, as well as the Department of Defense (DOD). ASME Y14.41 was revised and republished in May 2012 as ASME Y14.41-2012.

ASME Y14.41 was born of the need to utilize Computer-aided design (CAD) data as a manufacturing and/or inspection source. In the late 1980s and early 1990s solid modeling and CAD were becoming important tools for engineers looking to create and define increasingly complex geometry. For example, ergonomic and aerodynamic contoured surfaces were extremely difficult to define on engineering drawings. In response to requests from various segments of the industry, a new subcommittee began development of the standard in 1998.

Since various companies in industries including aerospace, automotive, agricultural and heavy equipment had already begun utilizing the CAD data for industrial purposes without a standard, several definitions needed to be established as the universal interpretation. The standard was written to be independent of any specific CAD software implementation.

ASME Y14.41 served the basis for the international standard ISO 16792:2006 Technical product documentation -- Digital product definition data practices. Both standards focus on the presentation of Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) together with the geometry of the product.

The material in the 2012 revision was reorganized to locate all of the information on a topic together in the text. This allows the reader to find all of the requirements for a functional area in one location. In addition, ASME Y14.41 was revised to incorporate changes based on the needs of industry and to reflect changes made to "ASME Y14.5-2009 Dimensioning and Tolerancing".

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