Manufacturing systems consist of many activities. Each of these activities may include one or more software and hardware systems. In order to make these software and hardware systems interoperable, the data exchange and sharing among them must be seamless. One of the key issues that impedes achieving manufacturing interoperability is how to standardize data sharing and exchange. An activity model for machining and measurement process planning was developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to address the current information exchange situations and some of the barriers.