ANSI Approved New Digital Metrology Standard
Manufacturers can now use a standardized framework to automate product characteristic identification across supply chains.
Updated on Sept. 21, 2026 in Industry — General
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On May 31, 2026, the American National Standards Institute approved the DMSC Model-Based Characteristics v1.0 standard. This new framework provides a universal language for tagging product specifications to facilitate automation throughout the manufacturing lifecycle.
Why it matters
The standard replaces manual interpretation of engineering drawings with persistent digital identifiers, which reduces error rates and improves interoperability between software vendors and production systems. It enables businesses to maintain trusted product information across the entire supply chain.
The DMSC MBC v1.0-2026 standard is documented in a 188-page technical manual. This approval concludes a development process that began in June 2020 and followed a 45-day public review period.
The players
American National Standards Institute
An organization that coordinates the development and use of voluntary consensus standards across the United States.
Digital Metrology Standards Consortium
A group that develops and maintains standards to enable digital interoperability in the metrology and manufacturing sectors.
The details
The standard defines specific nomenclature, symbols, and data structures that allow systems to uniquely identify characteristics. By using persistent identifiers, operators can eliminate the need for manual data entry or interpretation when passing specifications between design, production, and quality control software. This technical integration allows digital product information to flow reliably through disparate manufacturing platforms.
Timeline
Development of the standard began in June 2020.
The proposal appeared in the August 25, 2023, edition of ANSI Standards Action.
The public review period ended on October 9, 2023.
The Digital Metrology Standards Consortium released MBC as an internal standard in 2024.
ANSI confirmed the final approval on May 31, 2026.
Market Landscape
This standard follows the modular interoperability pattern established by the ISO 10303 STEP standard. It represents the latest step in industry efforts to move manufacturing away from drawing-based workflows toward fully digital, automated product definitions.
Operators should review their current CAD and quality management software to determine compatibility with the new DMSC MBC v1.0 specifications. Incorporating these unique identifiers now can help streamline quality reporting and reduce time spent on manual data reconciliation.
The takeaway
The move to standardized digital characteristic tagging is essential for firms looking to automate their quality and design workflows. Operators should instruct their engineering leads to download the 188-page MBC 1.0 document from the DMSC website for initial evaluation.
Further reading
For broader trends in production automation, see the Industry — General section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by 3D Printing Industry.
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