Getting the Most Out of Your Truss Designs

BCMC: IT Roundtable

Struggling to utilize your detailed truss drawings with your new and old production equipment should become a thing of the past thanks to the work of SBCA’s IT Committee and the Truss Plate Institute (TPI) Cross-Platform Initiative (CPI) Workgroup.

Since BCMC 2018, TPI's CPI Workgroup has been meeting to develop and finalize a draft format of the Unified Machinery File Format (UMFF). The goal of the UMFF is to provide more efficient and timely communication between manufacturing equipment and truss design/management software. This enhanced level of software/machine interface should allow component manufacturers (CMs) more flexibility when purchasing new equipment and/or software.

According to the CPI Workgroup, the latest version of the draft files and specifications look promising and will provide for a wide variety of uses. The next steps include converting the UMFF.XML file into a JSON format for a lighter weight, faster, and more adaptable file, followed by alpha testing in late spring 2020. The workgroup is also considering incorporation of a standard list of materials as well as information that would be beneficial for SBCA’s Digital QC program.

“I am glad to see some of the fruits of the TPI-CPI group’s labor,” said Greg Dahlstrom, SBCA IT Committee Chair. “The file is different from the Unified Data Standard in several significant ways and there is a lot more work to be done, but thankfully the TPI group has agreed to open up the working meetings to CM representatives. Hopefully, working together, we can ensure that this open format contains all of the information for a CM to be successful.” At BCMC, the CPI Workgroup committed to planning a series of working teleconferences over the next year. Those interested in staying up to date on the latest UMFF developments can do so via SBC Industry News and the TPI CPI Blog.