Category: General Standards Questions

Every once in a while, I like to take a moment out and explain some of the basics of the standards world.  One issue that always perplexes new standards users is the way that various standards are numbered.  However, every standards professional knows that the actual document numbers are a treasure trove of information.  So let’s take a look and discover how to read the numbering for ASTM Standards.

Each ASTM Standard is given a unique number.  It’s a combination of a letter and numbers.  So we can have an ASTM standard that’s numbered B211 or D3951.  The letter is determined by the general topic of the document, as shown below.

• A – Ferrous metals
• B – Nonferrous metals
• C – Cementitious, Ceramic, Concrete, and Masonry materials
• D – Miscellaneous materials
• E – Miscellaneous subjects
• F – Materials for specific applications
• G – Corrosion, deterioration and degradation of materials
• ISO/ASTM – documents released as co-numbered publications by ISO and ASTM
• ES – Emergency standards
• P – Proposals
• PS – Provisional standards

Originally, standards were released in inch-pound format.  But as ASTM standards started to reach an international audience, the use of metric measurements became important.  So the next thing to know is that if a number is followed by an M, the document’s measurements are based on the metric scheme.  ASTM publications that have both inch-pound and metric are co-numbered.  An example of an all-metric standard is ASTM B251M and a dual designated standard is ASTM D2950/D2950M.

The next thing you’ll want to know are the various types of publications that make up the ASTM standards set.  These are:

• Classification – a systematic arrangement or division of materials (See ASTM F2043)
• Guide – a compendium of information or options (See ASTM F2974)
• Practice – a set of instructions (excluding those producing a test result) (See ASTM F2444)
• Specification – a set of requirements that a material, product, system or service must meet (See ASTM D7194)
• Terminology – definition of terms (See ASTM D16)
• Test Method – a set of instructions producing a test result (See ASTM D4424)

Next let’s talk about the information that follows the main ASTM number on every document released.  Usually this is just two digits that provide you with the year the document was released, like ASTM-D3951-10 (ASTM D3951 2010 Edition) or ASTM-A482-11 (ASTM A482 2011 Edition).  If a document is revised more than once during any given year, a letter is added to the year, as in ASTM-E18-14a (ASTM E18 2nd 2014 update).

You’ll also sometimes find a letter or letter and number following the year designation as well.  These represent editorial corrections, like ASTM-F543-13e1 with 1 editorial correction or ASTM-G5-13e2  that’s had 2 editorial corrections made since the release of the 2013 Edition.  FYI:  An editorial correction does NOT affect the technical content of the document.  It is an update that is made for editorial reasons only.

And you may see a reaffirmation date as part of the numbering sequence as well.  This means that during the year in parentheses, the document was reviewed and determined to be valid exactly as written.  So the ASTM-C1014-08(2013) was issued in 2008 and reapproved in 2013.  This follows good standards practice, by the way, since standards should be reviewed every five years to insure that the information remains valid.

So let’s take some examples to recap what we’ve learned.  ASTM-A508/A408M-14 is a specification for a ferrous metal that was last revised in 2014.  It will have measurements both in inch-pound and metric (SI) format.   ASTM D2203-01(2011) is a test method standard for a miscellaneous material from 2001 that was reviewed in 2011 and is still valid.   ASTM-F718-07(2011)e1 is a specification for a specific application that was released in 2007 and reapproved in 2011 with an editorial correction.

One last note:  When you find an ASTM standard that is similar to what you’re looking for but not exactly correct, one good resource is to review the standards in the same volume of the complete set.  So if you find ASTM-G36 and you want to see more standards like that one from ASTM, just click the link on the Document Center website for the ASTM Volume 03.02.  This will provide you with a listing of all ASTM standards on erosion and wear.

So there you have it!  Document Center’s lesson on the numbering for ASTM standards that you’ll surely run into if you spend any time working with compliance information at all.  Remember, you’ll find all current and many obsolete copies of ASTM standards for sale at the Document Center webstore at www.document-center.com.  You’ll especially appreciate the revision history information provided for each document (see the history for ASTM-A480/A480M as an example).  And now you’ll know what the number for each revision actually means!  And if you have any more questions, please just let us know.  You can reach our staff by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  We’re your Standards Experts!

Today I have a guest blogger, Dr. Tim Rodgers, who asks the question:  “Does Anyone in China Pay Attention to Standards?”

Over the past several years there’s been a growing number of high-profile incidents involving quality problems with Chinese suppliers and contract manufacturers. Earlier this year the venerable British car company Aston Martin announced a recall of 75% of the cars built since 2008 after discovering a Chinese supplier used fake materials in an accelerator pedal that was implicated in field failures. Incidents like this have plagued both small businesses with limited staffs as well as large multinational corporations with strong reputations and extended supplier management teams. Many companies are shifting production away from China to locations with higher labor cost in order to get better control over quality.

As someone who has lived and worked in China at a leading electronics manufacturing service for almost two years, I know from experience how hard it can be to maintain quality standards in that part of the world. I’m not convinced that this problem is unique to China, but it may seem worse because of the sheer number of suppliers competing on price with extremely small profit margins and very little loyalty on either side of the purchasing relationship. In this Darwinian setting, suppliers will look for any way to reduce their costs, and unfortunately that means some will violate standards, substitute materials, and skip testing or inspection.

Some people will look at this seemingly lawless environment and ask whether anyone cares about standards, and whether they should even bother communicating standards to their suppliers. If no one’s paying attention, what’s the point?

Do we still need standards? Of course we do. Let’s not confuse supplier performance problems with the value of setting clear expectations. Standards still provide a clear and unambiguous way to specify product requirements, testing procedures, and acceptance criteria. Regulatory agencies and review committees made up of your industry’s leading experts create standards that give you a proven, technically-sound basis for assuring reliable and safe products. They specify not just the quality characteristics of the supplier’s output, but in many cases also how that output should be produced.

Standards tell the supplier how you will measure their performance, and establish the criteria you will use to accept or reject their deliverables. Your supplier should already be familiar with your industry’s standards, and if they’re not, then they’re probably not the right supplier for you.

However, simply communicating the standard to your supplier is not enough to assure compliance. Purchasing customers have a responsibility here as well. You need to “trust but verify,” and regularly audit suppliers, which can include sampling incoming parts and inspecting the production factory and supporting processes. Suppliers need to understand that there are consequences for failures to meet standards, such as financial penalties and loss of business, and suppliers need to know that you’re monitoring their performance.

Yes, it’s frustrating when you discover a quality problem that can be traced to your supply chain, but that shouldn’t lead you to abandon standards. It can sometimes seem like the Wild West where anything goes, but without standards that clearly define your requirements and expectations you’re just contributing to the chaos.

Author:  Dr. Tim Rodgers

Editor’s Note:

Tim Rodgers, Ph.D., MBA, SSBB, PMP, is a senior engineering manager with many years of experience leading new product development, supply chain management, and quality engineering teams at large multinational firms, including Lockheed-Martin, Hewlett-Packard, and Eastman Kodak. Tim is currently in-transition, looking for an opportunity to join a growing firm with an entrepreneurial culture. He writes regularly on management and quality issues at his own blog “Managing in the 2000s” at http://timrodgers.wordpress.com

It’s not an uncommon problem — You discover that a standard you use is obsolete.  How do you find the replacement standards?

Here at Document Center, I had a call yesterday from a customer who went to the ANSI webstore and was unable to find a standard there.  Turns out there’s a lot of standards that are not on the ANSI website.  The customer was perplexed and didn’t know what to do.  This is a situation that many standards users find themselves in — They have a document that they have been using or is called out in a contract or documentation and “poof!” it seems to have disappeared.

Well, I’m glad the customer gave us a call, because our system is set up to answer just this very question!  The first thing I did was check in our database and that’s when I found the source of the problem.  The standard (ANSI B18.17) was withdrawn in 1993 and ANSI does not track these obsolete documents.  Of course, the Document Center database does and you can find it by searching for ANSI B18.17 or just B18.17.

How did I help this person find a replacement standard?  Because ANSI B18.17 was cancelled without replacement, we had to do a search for a document that would take it’s place rather than follow the advice of the source organization.  So we put “wing nut” in the search field and came up with plenty of choices.  “There it is!” said my customer, looking at the ASME B18.6.9.

There are other tools on our website as well, so here’s some additional tips:

When you look on the Document Center website, if an obsolete standard has a notation “See the following:” use the link provided to find the replacement standard.

You can also look at the bottom of the bibliographic record of the obsolete standard.  If there’s a link “To find similar standards by…” try the link.  It will take you to documents that are in the same ICS Code or FSC Classification, or even the same ASTM collection volume.  You’ll use that list to find an appropriate replacement standard.

Or you can also do what we did:  Search for a topic or portion of the title.  You’ll get a results page with similar standards to choose from.

Still having trouble?  Give us a call!  As our customer said, “I don’t know why I bother with other services when Document Center has all the information I need!”  You can get in touch with us by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  And of course our webstore www.document-center.com has information on over 500,000 different standards from over 350 different publishers.

We often get asked this simple question: “What is the difference between an ISO, EN-ISO and BS-EN-ISO Standard?”  The simple answer is “Not much.”  But there’s more to it than that.

I’ve talked about this in a previous blog, but since the question still crops up with much frequency, I’m going to address the question again.

There are three issues at play in answering the question:  1. Location, 2.  Adoption, and 3.  Certification.

1.  Location:

An ISO document is developed as an international standard.  It is intended to have world-wide usage.  It is written under strict protocols with participation from delegates from all over the world.  Once released, it is publicly available for distribution.

An EN document is developed as a regional standard.  It is intended to be used in the European Union.  It is written under protocols with participation from delegates of the member states.  Once released, it is not available for public distribution.

A BS-EN document (or DIN-EN or AFNOR-EN, etc.) is a national standard.  It is published as each country in Europe adopts the EN document.  There are strict requirements for the withdrawal of any conflicting or duplicating standards.

2.  Adoption:

When an ISO document is released, countries have the right to republish the standard as a national adoption.  So, when the ISO-14971, for example, is issued, the European Union has the right to adopt and republish the standard.

When the EU chooses to adopt an ISO standard, they add a level of administrative overhead.  Thus, the EN adoption has a later issue date than the original ISO document, plus additional cover sheet information.

Usually, the true title of the EN standard will show you exactly what revision level of the ISO standard is being adopted.  So in our example of EN-ISO-14971, 2009 Edition, the title is “Medical devices – Application of risk management to medical devices (ISO 14971:2007, Corrected version 2007-10-01).”  As you can see, the complete title shows you what edition of the ISO document has been adopted.

However, as we noted above, the EN edition when issued is not actually available for public distribution.  Copies in English, French and German are supplied to each member of the EU.

The British Standards Institute publishes the official English language edition (in this case, BS-EN-ISO-14971), the German Standards Institute (DIN) publishes the official German language edition, and the French (AFNOR) publish the official French language edition.  The issue dates on each of these national adoptions will differ as the administrative time to review national standards for possible withdrawal varies.

3.  Certification:

As we have seen, we have a core ISO document that becomes increasing “wrapped” in layers of administrative adoption processes.  While our first impulse would be to go to the source document, I encourage you to take a moment to consider the political undercurrents involved.

Because the EN editions of all standards are called out in the European Union’s regulatory schema (the European Directives harmonization process), many certification professionals will only accept EN standards when reviewing customer facilities and practices.  Additionally, the EN editions have the Z Annexes, which do have an impact on your understanding of how the clauses in an individual harmonized standard relate to the relevant Directive.

So if you know that your trading partner in the European Union is in Germany and they want your auditor to come from a German firm, you may be well advised to get the English language editions of the DIN-EN standards where ever possible.

And if you are going to be audited by a firm based in England, like BSI for example, you should definitely consider purchasing the BS-EN editions of any ISO standard you use.  This can save you much time during your audit, even though it costs significantly more when you purchase the standard itself.

So, in conclusion, ISO, EN-ISO, and BS-EN-ISO documents all contain the same core information.  Only the administrative “wrapping” changes with each subsequent adoption level.

I hope this helps you understand this complex issue!

Let me know if you have any questions.  I can be reached by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  Or my expert staff can easily help you out.