Standard specifications are developed through a process of standardization where manufacturers, buyers, sellers, and other stakeholders agree on a common set of requirements for materials, products, systems, or services. This involves identifying key product characteristics, setting requirements for measuring each characteristic, testing specifications on a trial basis, and approving specifications as standards through a voting process. Organizations like ASTM, AATCC, and ISO play important roles in developing and promoting standardized specifications to ensure consistency and quality across industries.
Standard specifications are developed through a process of standardization where manufacturers, buyers, sellers, and other stakeholders agree on a common set of requirements for materials, products, systems, or services. This involves identifying key product characteristics, setting requirements for measuring each characteristic, testing specifications on a trial basis, and approving specifications as standards through a voting process. Organizations like ASTM, AATCC, and ISO play important roles in developing and promoting standardized specifications to ensure consistency and quality across industries.
Standard specifications are developed through a process of standardization where manufacturers, buyers, sellers, and other stakeholders agree on a common set of requirements for materials, products, systems, or services. This involves identifying key product characteristics, setting requirements for measuring each characteristic, testing specifications on a trial basis, and approving specifications as standards through a voting process. Organizations like ASTM, AATCC, and ISO play important roles in developing and promoting standardized specifications to ensure consistency and quality across industries.
satisfied by, a material, product, system or service.
When you write down information about how
good you want a product to be and how to determine it is good enough, you are writing a specification. Anyone can write a specification for any thing.
Over the years many organizations dealing in
textiles have written specifications for what they sell or what they want to buy.
That means, different companies
specifications for the same product are often different.
Even the test methods chosen to measure the
same characteristic are different. So, every time they have to be sure that they are talking about the same specifications and test methods.
So, a specification or test method becomes
“standard” because one or more groups of people agree to use it.
The concept of agreed-on standards is not
limited to specifications and test methods but also applies to definitions, classifications and procedures. A dictionary can be regarded as a list of standard definitions.
The process for reaching agreement on
specifications, definitions and test methods is called “standardization”. Developing a standard specification 1. Recognizing the problem; manufacturers, sellers, buyers and consumers can work together to improve product quality through standard setting organization.
2. Gathering interested parties; these interests
usually include government regulators with the previous parties.
3. Listing product characteristics; committee
members have to develop a list of constructions and performance characteristics. 4. Choosing the requirement for each characteristic; which satisfy the enough acceptable quality regarding to the cost and the end use of the product. And also decide how each characteristic is to be measured (test method).
5. Using the specification on a trial basis; to ensure
that the specifications used are satisfied and enough for requirements or not.
6. Revising, if necessary; some time new
characteristic (with a requirement and a test method) need to be added to the specification. 7. Approving as a standard specification; specification writing committee finishes its work when the members are satisfied on all specification details. Then formal voting process is taking place.
8. Promoting the product as meeting the
specification: over time, consumers prefer products that have a consistent record of high quality. Trade names and trademarks as quality indicators Trade name: a word or phrase used by a manufacturer to identify it self individually as a business.
Trademark: any name, symbol, figure, letter,
word or mark used by manufacturer to designate his goods and usually registered with the patent and trademark office to assure its exclusive use by its owner. Anatomy of a specification The original work of developing it began in 1940 by the National Retail Merchants Association (NRMA).
ASTM; American Society for Testing and Materials
Most ASTM textile specifications are written in a particular format of
exactly seven numbered sections.
Each ASTM specification is identified by a four-digit number preceded
by a letter, following by two more digits representing the year of last revision
D 3993-81 As shown in fig. 2.3 p. 29, 30 & 31
Section 1. Scope: Scope indicates what particular end products
the fabrics are to be used in.
Section 2. Applicable documents: list of the standard test
methods used to measure the characteristics required in the
specification.
Most of them are ASTM standard test methods and the rest are
usually methods of the American Association of Textile
Chemists and Colorists (AATCC)
Section 3. definitions: refers to the overall list of ASTM definitions that may appear in the test method.
Section 4. uses and significance: this section is critical to
understanding the point of specification writing.
Section 5. sampling: includes two important points: 1.
the fabric should be tested at the stage in which it will reach the user. 2. statistical requirements to obtain reliable test results. Section 6. specification requirements: includes the table in which each fabric characteristic, the requirement for each characteristic and the appropriate method of test are actually listed.
Section 7. test methods: this section provides needed details
about carrying out each specific test.
Section 8. indexing term: recent concern within ASTM about
locating documents by subject in alphabetical indexes. Organizations involved with specifications As mentioned before, fibre manufacturers, textile manufacturers, apparel manufacturers and consumers of textile products developed specifications.
Two national membership organizations
mentioned earlier, ASTM & AATCC are very heavily involved in standardizing specifications and test methods. 1- Individual companies: impose performance requirements for use of their trademarks, such as; Dan River, Milliken, JC Penny.
2- Government: many branches of the federal
government buy by specification, including the military through the Defense Personnel Support Center (DPSC). Federal agencies involved with safety write specifications for textile products to be in compliance with federal laws, especially flammability laws.
Safety requirements are the main responsibility of
the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Other federal regulations affecting the textile
industry, such as fiber content labels and care labels are administered by Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the department of commerce. 3- Industry Associations:
American Fiber Manufacturers Association (AFMA)
American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI) Knitted Textile Association (KTA) International Nonwoven and Disposables Association (INDA) American Apparel Manufacturers Association (AAMA) Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) National Knitwear and sportswear Association (NKSA) International Fabricare Institute (IFI) 4- National standard-setting organizations:
three organizations in the united states are directly
involved in developing standard specifications, test methods, and so on for textiles:
1) American Association of Textile Chemists and
Colorists (AATCC)
2)American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
3) American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
5- international standardization organization (ISO)
The major worldwide specialized organization for
standardization is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Its work “brings together the interests of standards
procedures and standards users ”
ISO is a nongovernment organization, but many of its
national members are government agencies.
It has over 160 technical committees working toward
establishment of international standards. Thank you