Earlier this week, we stripped down ISO (and, though briefly, IEC) standards to their purpose and development process. Now we will do the same with a few more organizations and their development of industry standards, particularly ASTM.

As we explained (hopefully well) earlier this week, industry standards provide a way to speak a universal language that ensures product consistency and compatibility, enhanced competition, technology diffusion, and the public welfare across international borders. They are a fundamental part of our daily lives for numerous reasons: they open channels of communication and commerce; promote understanding of products, ensure compatibility; enable mass production; and perhaps most important, they form the basis for achieving health, safety and a higher quality of life.

So many practicalities in our day-to-day lives — automobiles, buildings, computers and roads — work smoothly and efficiently if the standards to which they were manufactured were properly developed and applied.

Before we look at one or two or three more standards-developing organizations, it should first be noted that the United States is different from other countries of the world in that—where usually one organization is designated as the major standards developer and that organization is closely tied to, if not a part of the government — the U.S. standardization system is composed of many organizations, including government and non-government organizations.

In the U.S., there are basically two (broad) categories of standards regarding regulation: mandatory standards, which are set by government and can be either procurement or regulatory standards; and voluntary standards — of which the participation in the system is voluntary — usually intended for voluntary use. Voluntary consensus standards are developed through the participation of all interested stakeholders, including producers, users, consumers and representatives of government and academia.

ASTM
Now, we’ve already covered the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) and, though briefly, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Now let’s look at another organization, considered a major player, with significant recognition in industry standards development: ASTM International.

ASTM International, founded in 1898 by a group of engineers and scientists, was originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). This not-for-profit (voluntary standards development) organization plays a significant role in the information infrastructure that guides manufacturing, design and trade in the global economy, as it (ASTM International) provides a global forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services. ASTM standards are accepted and used around the world in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.

ASTM standards fall under the not-clear-cut umbrella of “voluntary,” as ASTM does not mandate their use. However, government regulators often give voluntary standards the force of law by citing them in laws, regulations and codes.

In recent years, according to the organization’s Web site, “stakeholders involved in issues ranging from safety in recreational aviation, to fiber optic cable installations in underground utilities, to homeland security, have come together under ASTM to set consensus standards for their industries. Standards developed at ASTM are the work of over 30,000 ASTM members. These technical experts represent producers, users, consumers, government and academia from over 100 countries. Participation in ASTM International is open to all with a material interest, anywhere in the world.”

So, what is the development process for ASTM International standards? (Rhetorical question; read on for the answer.) Typically, anyone who identifies a need for standardization can submit a written request to ASTM headquarters. According to ASTM, its staff researches the idea “to assess if there is adequate interest in the field, to discover if parallel activities exist in other organizations, and to determine where the activity would appropriately fit within the ASTM structure. The staff of ASTM does not determine which standards should be developed.” The hierarchy within ASTM, according to the organization’s Web site comprises three basic levels: main committees, subcommittees and task groups. A task group performs most of the research that forms the draft standard’s basis. “Once the group completes its work, it forwards these drafts through the hierarchy for review and voting: the standard must be approved by the subcommittee, main committee and Society before becoming an official ASTM standard. At each level, voting requirements are enforced to ensure fairness. When the draft has been reviewed and accepted at all levels, the draft becomes an ASTM standard and is published. Depending upon the need for the standard, drafting and approval can occur in a few months, a year or more.”

More than 12,000 ASTM standards are published each year.

The following is a breakdown of some of the other more significant organizations (i.e., the major players aside from ISO and ASTM) in the standards development system, descriptions borrowed from ASTM International itself:

IEC
Previously mentioned, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is responsible for standards in the area of electrical and electronic engineering. A voluntary organization, the membership of which consists of more than 60 participating countries, “its main concern is the development of specification standards for products and devices.” IEC issues both publications and recommendations for standards, and further, it promotes safety, compatibility, interchangeability and acceptability.

ITU
“The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is a treaty organization run under the auspices of the United Nations. Governments, not industry, administer and enforce the regulatory telecommunications standards that come out of the ITU. The U.S. Department of State is the U.S. representative to the ITU.”

ANSI
Referred to in previous coverage, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is “as close as the U.S. comes to a central voice for standards development.” ANSI is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that doesn’t develop standards; rather, it serves as the U.S. member body to the ISO and the IEC, coordinating the U.S. position in the development of ISO and IEC standards. As well, ANSI accredits standards developing organizations according to their consensus processes and accredits standards developed by SDOs as American National Standards.

“For both ISO and IEC, ANSI is the member body representing the United States.”

NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s primary mission is to assist the U.S. industry in advancing its performance in the development and application of technology. NIST is the U.S. government agency with “leading expertise in the area of technology standards and industry standardization issues, and its staff is actively involved in voluntary consensus standards development activities.”

So these are some of the major players in developing industry standards. And this is what they do. Hopefully we stripped down these organizations and their purposes and processes so that the jargon and acronyms frequently tossed about in our industry make more sense. (Then again, if you already knew everything there is to know about standards and their creators, well, you could have stopped me from rambling.)

Education is fun, no?