See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/263184456

Geometrical Product Specifications - Course for Technical Universities

Book · January 2001

CITATIONS READS

5 625

7 authors, including:

Zbigniew Humienny Albert Weckenmann

Warsaw University of Technology Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
22 PUBLICATIONS   109 CITATIONS    527 PUBLICATIONS   3,289 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Mart Tamre Liam Blunt

Tallinn University of Technology University of Huddersfield
37 PUBLICATIONS   89 CITATIONS    244 PUBLICATIONS   2,943 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Mobile tire counter and detector View project

Surface measurement using computed tomography View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Zbigniew Humienny on 29 December 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cirpj

State of art in standardization in GPS area

Zbigniew Humienny
Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Machine Design Fundamentals, Narbutta 84, Warsaw, Poland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The ISO family of standards shortly called the GPS standards is characterized. The activity of Technical
Available online 26 August 2009 Committee ISO/TC 213 that has been working towards coordinated and systematic development of
international standards covering problems of dimensioning, geometrical tolerancing, surface texture
Keywords: and related metrology is reported. The attempts of the ISO/TC 213 to establish more mathematical,
Tolerancing systematic and scientific basis for new standards building are emphasized. The unified model for design,
Standardization manufacturing and verification based on the improved GPS language and its new concepts like surface
GPS, geometrical product specifications
models, geometrical features, characteristics, specification uncertainty, correlation uncertainty and
ISO/TC 213
operations is aimed to cover all aspects of the product development up to launch on the market.
ß 2009 CIRP.

1. Introduction specific geometrical characteristic are used in complete structure—

The acronym GPS for design, manufacturing and metrology
engineers shall mainly stand for Geometrical Product Specifications.
This acronym is the sub part of the name of the Technical Committee
ISO/TC 213 Dimensional and Geometrical Product Specifications and
Verification. The Committee was established in 1996, when a group
of three ISO technical committees’ experts, lead by Per Bennich,
decided to start to cope with the problem of the contradictions, gaps
and the lack of cohesion with needs of modern CAD/CAM/CAQ
systems in the current set of standards devoted to dimensioning and
tolerancing. The circumstances had been felicitously characterized
by B. Grant, who during the 3rd ISO/TC 213 Plenary Session in June
1997 noted: We have standardized in the past by writing ‘‘standards’’
filled only with examples. We have spread the practice of Geometrical
Dimensioning and Tolerancing all over the world with only examples
defining what it is we are doing. Now is the time to standardize by
broadly applied rules which define the accepted practice as best possible
in a common way across the world, taking advantage as best possible of
available technology. This will:
 Decrease the uncertainty in the design and manufacture of products;
 Increase the productivity of engineering and production efforts;
 Increase the use of computers and other advanced technologies in
design and manufacturing [1].
Bennich formulated a new fundamental concept of chains of
standards [2]. Each chain has six links [3,4] that shall form an
unambiguous link between the drawing indication and the result
of measurement. The eighteen chains of standards, each covering
E-mail address: zhu@simr.pw.edu.pl.
The chain of standards matrix model (Fig. 1). The matrix model is
explained in the detail in Technical Report ISO/TR 14638 GPS
Masterplan. Since 1996 every new GPS standard has to contain
annex in which relation of the particular standard to the GPS
matrix model is marked. The ISO/TR 14638 was published in 1995
and at that time many of the matrix chains were empty. That
indicated lack of standards devoted to some GPS issues. It should
be noted, that since 1996 the ISO/TC 213 prepared 105 new or
thoroughly revised standards and over 50 documents are under
development [1]. So it seems that ISO/TR 14638 should be revised
and updated to show, what standards are available in particular
chain links.
2. Development of the GPS standards
The development of the GPS standards is executed interna-
tionally in the ISO/TC 213 and thanks to the Vienna agreement [5],
all ISO standards in the GPS field are processed parallel in Europe in
its mirror committee CEN/TC 290. The GPS standards are prepared
in the ISO/TC 213 by active cooperation of 24 participating
countries and 28 observer countries. The ISO/TC 213 has annually
two meetings and its core expert group comprises of about 30
people, however since 1996 over 150 people have served as
experts. The experts represent automobile, aircraft and other high
tech industry, leading measuring equipment manufacturers,
universities and consulting business.
In the USA the description of a workpiece geometry for
engineering purposes is called geometrical dimensioning and
tolerancing (GDT) and is covered mainly by the National
Standard ASME Y14.5 M [3,4,6,7], which latest edition was
published in March 2009. The both tolerancing systems – the
international and the American have a lot common, but are not

1755-5817/$ – see front matter ß 2009 CIRP.

doi:10.1016/j.cirpj.2009.06.007
2 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7
Fig. 1. Structure of the GPS matrix according to ISO/TR 14638.
fully compatible (Fig. 2). A few American experts are active in
the ISO/TC 213, so a number of ASME ideas are adopted in the
new ISO standards (e.g. all around notation for tolerancing of
profile of a line/surface) and we hope, that the ANSI will also
accept some ISO approaches. So it gives a chance to reduce and
hopefully eliminate confusions in such industry like automotive
which operates worldwide over country boundaries. The
standards diversity is also a great challenge for educators and
students [8].
The scope of the Technical Committee ISO/TC 213 is:
Standardization in the field of geometrical product specifications
(GPSs), i.e. macro- and microgeometry specifications covering
dimensional and geometrical tolerancing, surface properties and the
related verification principles, measuring equipment and calibration
requirements, including the uncertainty of dimensional and geome-
trical measurements. The standardization includes the basic layout
and explanation of drawing indications (symbols) [1].
Fig. 2. The same symbol is used for the position tolerance according to ISO 1101 and the positional tolerance according to ASME Y14.5M, however interpretation is different.
According to the ISO the extracted median line (the actual feature) shall be within the tolerance zone. According to the ASME the axis of the inscribed cylinder (the ideal
feature) shall be contained in the tolerance zone.
The ISO/TC 213 activity is currently carried out in the 11
working groups (WGs) along with the 4 advisory groups (AGs) [1]
and may be divided into two areas:
 Reviewing, upgrading and improving of existing GPS standards.
 Development of new standards to create the next generation of
the GPS language.
Furthermore, it is recognized that there are two metrology
systems in the GPS:
 Conventional metrology based on hard gauging (calipers,
micrometers, gauge blocks, surface plates, gap gauges, plug
gauges, etc.).
 Digital computational metrology based on the sets of sampled
points and computer software for their assessment and analysis
(coordinate measuring machines, articulated arms, roundness
measuring machines, etc.).
The benefits for industry expected from the work of the
committee as well as the objectives and the strategies for their
achievement are in the details presented in the ISO/TC 213 Business
plan [9].
Among the number of the recently published ISO GPS
documents the following should be recalled as crucial for
consistent design, manufacturing and inspection:
 ISO/TS 15530-3:2004, -4:2008 GPS, Coordinate measuring
machines (CMMs): Technique for determining the uncertainty
of measurement – Part 3: Use of calibrated workpieces or
standards – Part 4: Evaluating task-specific measurement
uncertainty using simulation;
 ISO/TS 16610-. . .:2009 GPS, Filtration, . . . (multipart technical
specification);
 ISO 2692:2006 GPS – Geometrical tolerancing – Maximum
material requirement (MMR), least material requirement (LMR)
and reciprocity requirement (RPR);
 ISO/TS 23165:2006 GPS, Guidelines for the evaluation of
coordinate measuring machine (CMM) test uncertainty;
 ISO 14978:2006 GPS – General concepts and requirements for
GPS measuring equipment;
 ISO/TS 17450-1:2005 GPS – General concepts – Part 1: Model for
geometrical specification and verification;
 ISO/TR 16570:2004 GPS: Linear and angular dimensioning and
tolerancing:  limit specifications – step dimensions, distances,
angular sizes and radii;
 ISO 1101:2004 GPS – Geometrical tolerancing – Tolerances of
form, orientation, location and run-out.
Selected important drafts of ISO GPS documents which are
under discussion in ISO/TC 213 are listed below:
 ISO 1101:2004/WD Amd 2 GPS – indication of special specifica-
tion operators for straightness, roundness, flatness and cylin-
dricity;
 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7
Fig. 3. (a) The perpendicularity tolerance specified according to the withdrawn ISO
1101:1983. It is stated in the ISO 1101:2004 that such indication, with an arrow of
leader line terminating directly to the axis, should no longer be used because of the
risk of ambiguous interpretations. (b) There are more possible interpretations than
two shown.
 ISO/FDIS 286-1,2 GPS ISO code system for tolerances of linear
sizes – Part 1: Basis of tolerances, deviations and fits – Part 2:
Tables of standard tolerance grades and limit deviations for holes
and shafts;
 ISO/DIS 5459.4 GPS – Geometrical tolerancing – Datums and
datum-systems;
 ISO/FDIS 10360-2 GPS – Acceptance and reverification tests for
coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) – Part 2: CMMs used for
measuring linear dimensions;
 ISO/DIS 10360-5,7 GPS – Acceptance and reverification tests for
coordinate measuring machines (CMM) – Part 5: CMMs using
single and multiple stylus contacting probing systems – Part 7:
CMMs equipped with imaging probing systems;
 ISO/DIS 14405-1.2 GPS – Dimensional tolerancing – Part 1:
Linear sizes – Part 2: Dimensions other than linear sizes;
 ISO/DIS 14406 GPS – Data extraction;
 ISO/DIS 14659 GPS – Fundamentals – Concepts, principles and
rules;
 ISO/DIS 22432 GPS – Features utilized in specification and
verification;
 ISO/CD TR 23605 Technical product specification (TPS) –
Application guidance – International model for national imple-
mentation;
 ISO/DIS 25378.2 GPS – Geometrical characteristics.
3. Improvement of the existing GPS standards
The globalization in the production, widespread outsourcing
and subcontracting of highly sophisticated parts as well as rapid
development of the coordinate measuring technique, the form
measuring machines and the profile measurement devices
indicated, that some specifications based on the set of standards
that were used in last quarter of the XXth century may have
different interpretations (Fig. 3) or do not give any tool to specify
some functional requirements or measuring conditions. For
example, currently for the roundness tolerance there is no
standardized ISO notation to specify the measuring conditions
like filter or stylus tip radius which significantly influence the
measuring result. So the ISO/TC 213 decided, that such drawbacks
shall be removed as far as possible by ‘‘repairing’’ of the existing
standards or adding new standards for everyday industrial use
without any sophisticated concepts that require application of the
advanced mathematics. Such standards shall be based as far as
possible on the existing practice and the traditions which shall be
enriched by the new adequate tools for the unambiguous drawing
indication and specification. The improvement of the GPS system
shall be performed evolutionary as it is demanded by the majority
of industry which use drawings based on over half century
3
experience in the geometrical dimensioning and tolerancing (the
first ISO recommendation ISO/R 1101 was published in 1969).
The recently revised standards ISO 1101 and ISO 2692 [3,10] are
the cases of such policy. The both contain the sets of drawings with
examples of indication of the geometrical tolerances and inter-
pretations. The clause 18 Definitions of geometrical tolerances in the
second edition ISO 1101:2004 contains 101 drawings. The
substituted first edition ISO 1101:1983 in the relevant clause 14
Detailed definitions of tolerances contains only 88 drawings.
Furthermore drawings in the new edition are more commu-
nicative, which is a great advantage of the edition from December
2004. In the annex to ISO 1101:2004 a few former practices of
drawing indications are shown. They should no longer be used
because of the risk of their ambiguous interpretations (Fig. 3).
Significantly bigger changes are in the new edition of the ISO
2692:2006. It combines definitions from ISO 2692:1988 Technical
drawings – Geometrical tolerancing – Maximum material principle
and its amendment ISO 2692/Amd 1:1992 Least material require-
ment as well as introduces the new modifier R (reciprocity
requirement) – Fig. 4. It should be emphasized that in the ISO
2692:2006 consistent set of terms and definitions is given and the
14 rules for toleranced feature verification are clearly stated. The
standard is supplemented by informative annex with 52 drawings
on which the various cases of the modifier applications are
discussed.
The default understanding of a size with required tolerance
class (e.g. 160h7) is changed in processed drafts ISO/FDIS 286-1,2
and ISO/DIS 14405 as follows: the default definition of size is two
point size for both lower limit of size and upper limit of size (Fig. 5). It
shall be recalled that currently according to the ISO system of
limits and fits the default case, when the tolerance class is used is
two point size for the least material limit of size and mating size for
the maximum material limit of size (Fig. 5). Moreover – which is
surprising because millions of the machines are working in the
world – the definition of the size tolerance specification by direct
indication (e.g. 160,015  0,015) is not given in any International
Standard. Therefore it results in an ambiguous requirement whenever
Fig. 4. (a) Functional requirement—the sleeve face in the assembly shall be in the
intimate contact with the pin face. The MMVS for pin is MMVS = MMS + T = 30.2. (b)
Tolerancing with modifier M according to the ISO 2692:1988. (c and d) The actual
pins released to assembly. (e) Such actual pin shall be rejected during checking
conformity according to the specification (b) albeit it is fully functional. (f) The new
modifier R, reciprocity requirement; introduced in the ISO 2692:2006, which
enables to accept pins with size bigger than specified, when perpendicularity
deviation is smaller than specified.
4 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7

Fig. 5. (a) Specification (IT7 = 0,03 mm). (b) The current interpretation of hole size according ISO 286:1998 – the mating size for the lower limit of size and the two point size for
the upper limit of size. (c) The new interpretation of size according to ISO/FDIS 286-1,2 and ISO/DIS 14405 – the two point size is default for both, the lower limit of size and the upper
limit of size.

it is used on the features of size with not perfect form [11]. It means development (Fig. 7) is highlighted in the ISO/TS 17450-1. The
that for more than a century all over the world some engineering specification operator is formulated as the virtual measuring
thumb knowledge was applied during the manufacturing, verification procedure. The verification operator defines the sequence of
and assembling parts. This is no more accepted when tolerances are operations used during the measuring process. The theoretically
decreasing and the functional demands are increasing, especially exact verification operator is the implementation of the specification
when integrated CAD/CAM/CAQ systems are employed [12]. operator. Up to now, in most cases, the operations of partition,
The ISO/DIS 14405 defines the 11 types of sizes and the extraction, filtration, association, collection and construction have
adequate symbols for their specifications on the drawings. The been introducing during measurement as the metrologist activity
possibility of the size definition is divided into the following four without information from the designer. The control staff needs
categories: suggestions from the designers to clear, what shall be measured—
the complete specification operator is required. Only the complete
 Local size (two-point size, local size defined by sphere); specification operator is unambiguous and therefore has no
 Global linear size (least square size, maximum inscribed size, specification uncertainty. The specifications in the ISO/TS
maximum circumscribed size); 17450-2 are defined by the ordered sets of operations. It is the
 Calculated size (circumference diameter, area diameter, volume new approach, which gives to the designer much more powerful
diameter); tool to define expected functional requirements than it is possible
 Rank order size (maximum size or maximum diameter,
minimum size or minimum diameter, average size or average
diameter).
The clear intent of the Technical Report ISO/TR 16570 is to make
the designers and the measuring staff realize, that although the ISO
129-1:2004 – Technical drawings–Indication of dimensions and
tolerances – Part 1: General principles contains rules for dimensioning
and tolerancing with  specifications, such way of specifications is
not always sufficient for an unambiguous description of the workpiece
geometry. Any  specification usually causes large specification
uncertainty and it is strongly recommended [4,11,13] to substitute it
by the geometrical tolerancing according to the ISO 1101 (Fig. 6).

4. Development of the next generation of the GPS language

The basic demand of the new GPS approach is unambiguous

definition of a workpiece along the entire production process. It
can be accomplished because the ISO/TC 213 experts realized, that
the specification and the verification are strongly related to each
other both in the theory and in the practice [1,14–17]. In the ISO/TC
213 great attempts are made to develop mathematical definitions,
to put the current standards on a firmer basis to reduce risk of
misinterpretations and ambiguities. The new GPS approach
utilizes classification of the 3D surfaces based on their invariance
properties [18].
The basic tools for the next generation of the GPS language are
given in the ISO/TS 17450. Almost 70 terms are defined in this
specification. The specification with recently published 1st part
shall be regarded as the global GPS document, because it influences
all the chain links of the chains of standards in the GPS matrix
model (Fig. 1). The specification is not intended to be used directly
as a standard way to specify the geometry of a workpiece, but
should serve as a basis for revising and completing existing
standards according to the unified and systematic approach.
Fig. 6. (a) Dimensioning and tolerancing of the hole axis placement with 
The importance of parallelism and complementary of the specifications is ambiguous. (b and c) A few different coordinate systems may be
actions that shall be distinguished in the specification procedure established for the workpiece verification on the coordinate measuring machine (there
and the verification procedure in the process of a product are more possible interpretations than two shown).
 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7
Fig. 7. The GPS duality principle of the specification and verification procedures.
by the application of the tolerance zones according to the ISO 1101,
which played historical role by putting forward the specification
opportunities comparing to the specification by the tolerance
interval according to the ISO 286.
The integrated duality principle of the specification and the
verification established by the ISO/TC 213 induced, that the
uncertainty concept generally accepted in the metrology [19,20]
has been generalized beyond interpretation well known in the
measurements. The development of the next generation of the GPS
language is firmly based on the generalized concept of the
uncertainty (Fig. 8), where:
 Correlation uncertainty is used to estimate, how well the
geometrical specifications express the intended functional
requirements. It should be noted, that final performance of the
machine depends not only on the geometry of its parts but also
on a few other factors like material properties and operating
conditions;
 Specification uncertainty may occur due to some ambiguities,
which exist in the specification itself. The ambiguities may be
caused by incorrect or incomplete application of the GPS
standards or due to the lack of appropriate standards;
Fig. 8. The generalized concept of the uncertainty according to the ISO/TS 17450-2.
5
 Measurement uncertainty is inherently associated with any
measurement and may be large in case when measured is not
defined properly (differences between the specification and the
verification operator – chosen measuring method is not full in
line with the design intend) and significant, when implementa-
tion of the measuring method is away from its concept.
The correlation and the specification uncertainties may be
reduced by the designers, while the measurement uncertainty may
be reduced by the metrologists. The uncertainty of measurement
always counts against the party who is providing the proof of
conformance or non-conformance and therefore making the
measurement (ISO 14253).
The key factors that influence the compliance uncertainty are
discussed in [21]. The problem of the lack of completeness of the
current tools for drawing indication is raised, which supports the
drive to develop the next generation of the GPS standards.
The drafts ISO/DIS 14659, ISO/DIS 25378 and ISO/DIS 22432 are
processed to establish another three basic standards for the next
generation of the GPS language.
The 33 types of characteristics are defined in the ISO/DIS
25378.2. The characteristic is a single property of one or more
feature(s) expressed in linear or angular units. The geometrical
characteristic corresponds to a quantification or a quantification of
one or more constraints:
 On one ideal feature or non-ideal feature (individual character-
istic);
 Between one ideal feature or non-ideal feature and one ideal
feature or non-ideal feature (relationship characteristic).
The constraint can be a size, surface texture, form, orientation
or location constraint.
The concept of the GPS characteristics enables the formal and
the unique definition of the deviations and the dimensions with
the regard to the ideal features. The texture and the form
deviations correspond to the defects in relation with the type of
the input features. The sizes correspond to the defects in relation
with the intrinsic characteristics of the features. The orientation
and the location correspond to the defects in relation with the
situation characteristics between features.
The systematic collection and explanation of the 12 GPS
fundamental concepts is given in the ISO/DIS 14659. These
fundamental concepts, principles and rules are valid for the creation
and the interpretation of the all other International Standards.
Some concepts are new like:
 Duality principle: the GPS specification defines a GPS specification
operator independently of any measurement procedure or
measurement equipment and the GPS specification operator is
realized in a verification operator which is independent of the
GPS specification itself, but it is intended to mirror the GPS
specification operator;
 Uncertainty principle: it is necessary to quantify the closeness of a
specification operator to the functional operator and the
closeness of a verification operator to the specification operator.
The other concepts are recalled from the published standards
e.g.:
 Reference condition principle: by default all GPS specifications
apply at reference conditions such as standard temperature
defined in ISO 1;
 Independency principle: by default every GPS requirement for a
feature or relation between features shall be fulfilled indepen-
dent of other requirements, except when it is stated in a standard
or by special modifiers (M, L, R, E).
6 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7
The ISO 5459:1981 is an example of the standard which
urgently needs revision and considerable improvement because it
contains unclear statements that is crucial in everyday applica-
tions of datums or datum systems for the orientation, location and
run-out tolerances. The new concepts and terms from the ISO/TS
17450-1 are applied in the 4th draft of ISO/DIS 5459. However it is
worth to mention that ISO members are far away from the
consensus. Some claim that the text is written very much for
academia and is too difficult for normal usage, they suggest to
rewrite the standard in the way directed to the industry. The others
believe that the 4th version of ISO DIS 5459 is much better than
previous drafts, however there is still a lot to do to write the good
standard, because there are some unclear paragraphs or missed
information. The tolerancing of the geometrical features implies
the limitation of the geometrical deviations in relation to their
nominal form, orientation and/or location by zones in which the
geometrical features shall be situated. There are two cases:
 Each zone is oriented and/or located by other features called
datums;
 Zone are oriented and located between each other.
In the ISO/DIS 5459 first time, the datums and the datum-
system setting are addressed from the two points of view:
 The designer, who has specific needs to code the functional
requirements related to the datums into graphical notation – the
10 writing rules are defined;
 The other persons in companies which shall be able to
reconstruct the designer intent, i.e. decode the graphical
language into requirements – the 10 reading rules are
simultaneously defined to avoid any divergence.
The development of the standards defining the next genera-
tion of the GPS language due to their general and fundamental
character requires deep discussion to reach consensus. It is time
consuming and progress is not so visible in the number of
released ISO documents. Huge batch of standard drafts is under
processing.
The new approach with its sophisticated terms and definitions
is relevant for:
 Programming of measuring instruments (like coordinate mea-
suring machines);
 Definition of very small tolerances;
 Precise evaluation of the measurement uncertainty;
 Computer aided production process planning [22].
The standard ISO 14978:2006 represents the ISO/TC 213
pursuits to develop standards that provide general layout for the
new standards and the data sheets for the measuring equipment
requirements. This standard specifies general requirements,
terms and definitions of characteristics of the GPS measuring
equipment and forms basis for describing the design character-
istics and the metrological characteristics for an equipment. The
standard has been published to precise the communication
between the measuring equipment manufacturer and the user. It
is decided not to give any numerical values of the metrological
characteristics in the new generation of standards relating to the
measuring instruments. The intent is not to limit progress in an
equipment development and not to set any boundaries. The user is
provided with the list of characteristics and in the contract with a
manufacturer the user can decide for what values of character-
istics he is ready to pay. Using this strategy the ISO 463:2006
devoted to design and metrological characteristics of mechanical
dial gauges was prepared and currently ISO/DIS 13385-1,2
dedicated to calipers and ISO/DIS 3611 on micrometers are
processed.
Looking through the list of standards recently published and
standards under development it shall be noticed that the number
of standards devoted to:
 coordinate measuring techniques;
 measurement of surface texture.
is strongly growing. It is in line with rapid increase of the
CMM application in industry and demands for reliable tests for
their verification [23,24].
The key performance criterion for the coordinate
measuring machines and the machine tools is the geometrical
accuracy and dedicated software reliability. The new concepts
given in the ISO 10360, ISO/TS 15530 and ISO/TS 23165, the new
calibrations methods and increasing capability of machine
controllers to compensate mathematically geometry errors are
thoroughly discussed in [25]. This paper indicates that methods
developed for assessment and compensation of the CMM
geometrical errors can be extended to the manufacturing
machines.
5. Conclusions
The geometrical product specifications tools are in the state of
dynamic change and continuous improvement. The main challenge
of the Technical Committee ISO/TC 213 is to provide the standards
for coherent product geometrical description along the phases of the
design, manufacturing and inspection. These standards shall contain
coordinated and mutually consistent concepts, terminology and
indication rules to facilitate the economic management of variability
in products and processes. The definitions for the next generation of
the GPS language are based on mathematics that enables simulation
of the product functions using both physical and mathematical
models. This is in contrary to the previous practice based on the
definitions described by the sets of examples. The worldwide
harmonization of the standards development and implementation is
a crucial issue.
The two fundamental concepts in new generation of the GPS
language – the duality principle and the uncertainty principle may
be actually distinguished. There is always some uncertainty
whether the finished product will fulfill the intended functions.
The formalized one-to-one mapping between the operations in the
specification operator and the verification operator unclosed in the
duality principle shall be carefully traced during the product
development and manufacturing.
The GPS standards analyzed in the paper were chosen arbitrary,
as the examples to show main trends in the standardization in the
GPS area. Some of the presented tendencies may be observed in the
other recently published GPS standards or documents under
preparation.
The ISO/TC 213 experts serve voluntary. So, although the ISO/TC
213 has routinely two meetings each year and the ISO secretariat
formally limits time for a standard development to 36 months,
some times the processing of a draft takes more time.
References
[1] http://isotc213.ds.dk – Home page of ISO/TC 213.
[2] Bennich, P., 1993, Chain of Standards: A New Concept in Tolerancing
and Engineering Drawing GPS-Standards, in: Proceedings of the 1993 Inter-
national Forum on Dimensional Tolerancing and Metrology; ASME, CRTD,
vol. 27, .
[3] Henzold, G., 2006, Geometrical Dimensioning and Tolerancing for Design
Manufacturing and Inspection, Butterworth-Heinemann.
[4] Bialas, S., Osanna, P.H., Tamre, M., Weckenmann, A., Blunt, L., Jakubiec, W., et al,
2001, in Humienny Z, (Ed.) Geometrical Product Specifications—Course for
Technical Universities. Warsaw University of Technology Printing House,
Warsaw, Poland.
 Z. Humienny / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2009) 1–7
[5] http://www.cen.eu.
[6] Meadows, J.D., 2006, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing in 2007, Geo-
tolmeadows, Hendersonville, TN In: http://www.geotolmeadows.com.
[7] Drake Jr P.J.. 1999, Dimensioning and Tolerancing Handbook, McGraw-Hill.
[8] Prusak, Z., 2006, Introduction to Global Engineering: Use of Standards and
Cultural Differences, in: Proceedings of the36th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Educa-
tion Conference SCC-14 (San Diego, CA), In: http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2006/
papers/1783.pdf.
[9] http://www.iso.org.
[10] Green, P., 2005, The Geometrical Tolerancing Desk Reference. Creating and
Interpreting ISO Standard Technical Drawings, Elsevier.
[11] http://www.ifgps.com.
[12] Zhao, X., Pasupathy, K., Wilhelm, R.G., 2006, Modeling and Representation of
Geometric Tolerances Information in Integrated Measurement Process, Com-
puters in Industry, 57:319–330.
[13] Chiabert, P., Lombardi, F., Orlando, M., 1998, Benefits of Geometric Dimen-
sioning and Tolerancing, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 78:
29–36.
[14] Srinivasan, V., 2001, An integrated View of Geometrical Product Specification
and Verification, in: Proceedings of the 7th CIRP International Seminar on
Computer Aided Tolerancing, Ecole Normale Supėrieure de Cachan (France), .
[15] Nielsen, H.S., 2003, Specifications, Operators and Uncertainties, in: Proceed-
ings of the 8th CIRP International Seminar on Computer Aided Tolerancing,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC.
[16] Chiabert, P., Orlando, M., 2004, About a CAT Model Consistent with ISO/TC 213
Last Issues, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 157–158:61–66.
View publication stats
7
[17] Ma, L., Jiang, X., Wang, J., Xu, Z., Li, Z., 2007, Study on the Expression
Specifications of Geometrical Products for Function, Design, Manufacture
and Verification Based on the Improved GPS Language, Int J Adv Manuf
Technol, 32:990–998.
[18] Srinivasan, V., 2003, Theory of Dimensioning. An Introduction to Parameter-
izing Geometric Models, Marcel-Decker Inc..
[19] Heidenblut, S., Kessel, R., Sommer, K.-D., Weckenmann, A., 2007, Ein Mod-
ellbildungskonzept für die praxisgerechte Bestimmung der Messunsicherheit,
Technisches Messen, 74/10: 94–506.
[20] Sommer, K.-D., Weckenmann, A., Siebert, B., 2006, Qualität für Messergeb-
nisse-Messunsicherheit nach GUM, Technisches Messen, 73/4: 189–199.
[21] Lu, W.L., Jiang, X., Liu, X.J., Xu, Z.G., 2008, Compliance uncertainty of diameter
characteristic in the next-generation geometrical product specifications and
verification, Measurement Science and Technology, 19/105103: 8.
[22] Anselmetti, B., Louati, H., 2005, Generation of Manufacturing Tolerancing with
ISO Standards, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture,
45:1124–1131.
[23] Humienny, Z., Wilhelm, R.G., 2006, Evaluation of CMM According to ISO and
ASME Standards, in: Proceedings of the VIIth International Scientific Confer-
ence Coordinate Measuring Technique, University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland .
pp. 133–144.
[24] Pfeifer, T., Imkamp, D., Schmitt, R., 2006, Coordinate Metrology and CAx-
application in Industrial Production, Carl Hanser-Verlag, Munich.
[25] Schwenke, H., Knapp, W., Haitjema, H., Weckenmann, A., Schmitt, R., Delbres-
sine, F., 2008, Geometric Error Measurement and Compensation of Machines—
An Update, CIRP Annals-Manufacturing Technology, 57/1: 660–675.