Are Standards Too Expensive?

In the classes I teach and in many discussions with customers from various industries, I invariably have a discussion about the procurement of standards.  Some have no problems buying the standards needed to evaluate their materials, equipment, machines or processes.  However, a percentage of customers state that standards are “too expensive” to procure.

Standards are developed by a number of organizations that describe the design, installation, performance and safety of products, materials, equipment, and machines.  Common standards organizations are as follows:

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI),
• ASTM International, formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM),
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA),
• International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC),
• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE),
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), or
• Robotics Industry Association (RIA)
• SAE International, formerly the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE)
• Underwriters Laboratories (UL),

Most standards organizations have various rules about who is involved with the development and voting of standards.  Many standards organizations require a combination of people from the equipment or material manufacturers (defined as "manufacturers"), people that use the equipment or materials (defined as “users”), and people from academia, non-related organizations (defined as “general interest”) to be part of the standards development and/or voting groups.

Standards are one method that the standards organization uses to fund various activities.  The price of most standards vary from "free" to $2,000 (US), while most are in the $100 to $500 range.  While some standards may seem expensive, when these prices are put into perspective of development costs and independent testing costs.  Development costs range from tens to hundreds of thousands dollars or even millions of dollars depending on the complexity of the material, equipment, machine or process.  Independent testing can costs range from $10,000 to $25,000 or more, and that does not include the resources of time and equipment needed by the organization.

From my experience, the price of procuring standards is not an issue of price, but a mask of some other underlying problem(s) within an organization.  These underlying issues vary from organization to organization.    When one evaluates the price of standards, the evaulation should include the costs associated product development, or the costs of product recalls or injuries from their products, not just the price of the standard.

The procurement of the appropriate standards are important in validating the safety and/or performance of materials, equipment, machines or processes and are far less expensive than costs related to product redesign, product recalls, or an injury from an unsafe product.