National Press Release

AIAG's QMD format provides interoperability between more than 1,500 proprietary formats, saving the industry millions of dollars in integration and translation costs for data extraction from fixtures, gages and CMMs.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of companies from numerous business-verticals can now be assured that their quality measurement reporting tools and software are compliant with AIAG's globally recognized Quality Measurement Data (QMD) specification. It is the first-and-only standard agreed on in the SPC industry and puts an end to the cost, complexity and time required to extract and translate quality data from different gage, fixture and CMM sources.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through AIAG has "created the user-friendly web-based conformance test utility which will 1.) help suppliers test the compliance of their QMD implementation (prior to submission for certification) and 2.) help the AIAG to perform formal QMD certification on these products," said John Horst, Metrology Interoperability Project Manager for NIST. "All this can give end-users of QMD-based products, confidence that quality measurement software products are sufficient to solve their data needs, and will enable interoperability between products from different suppliers. Costly use of proprietary formats can now become a thing of the past."

The online QMD certification process is self paced, painless and completed directly from the AIAG Web site. Certification ensures customers that they are receiving data from a QMD-compliant source and it verifies that measurement reporting tools adhere to XML best practices for data interoperability.

To apply for QMD certification visit www.aiag.org/sci or for more information call AIAG at (248) 358-3003.

About AIAG

The AIAG is a globally recognized organization founded in 1982 by a group of visionary executives from Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors. The membership has grown to include prominent automotive OEM and suppliers such as Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Caterpillar Tractor, International Truck Corporation, Daimler, and others. Their purpose, to provide members an open forum to cooperate in developing and promoting solutions that enhances the prosperity of the automotive industry.

AIAG members play a unique role in the development of new technologies and the standards that govern their usage. Under the auspices of AIAG, volunteers from all layers of the supply chain work together to resolve issues critical to the automotive supply chain. For more information, please visit the organization's Web site at www.aiag.org.

SOURCE AIAG