Why is it ever so difficult to find the standards? 6

[EngCutie]

Do some companies just not bother with buying standards not often used? ASME standards are at visible places, but EN and API standards are nowhere to be seen. Is it just the companies I have been, or it’s the same with many companies?

It’s quite annoying not be able to find what I need. It’s like this in my last company, people suggested to have them electronically stored on the intranet, make it easier for people to search and find what they want, not sure if any company does it, it seems very costly.

Anyway, I have got a new job, and my old ID got blocked... don’t know why.


Cutie

 

[jmw]

MotenMetal,
an attractive idea on many fronts hat government should underwrite standards.
If they could be persuaded to just foot the bill, that would be OK.
However, if we want standards to be effective and cost effective, we need to keep government, any government, at arms length, sorry, over the horizon.
The risk is that the government would just mess it up.

By the way, not all national differences are simply protectionism it is just that of all the different ways to do something there isn't necessarily just one right way.

Once you accept that the problem is to get everyone to agree on which right solution should become the common solution.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[HgTX]

Back to the original post--whether the codes are posted on your intranet depends on whether your company decides to buy a site license to allow everyone in the company access to the same copy of the document. Sometimes that's a good deal. Sometimes it's horribly expensive. Sometimes they buy one electronic copy and put it on a designated workstation that everyone has to physically walk over to in order to read the documents, thus perversely making the electronic version less portable than the paper version, which you could at least pull off the library shelf and take to your own desk. Sometimes they are reasonable and buy everyone their own copy to use, just like everyone has their own telephone, keyboard, and other basic tools. This is for you to take up with your management.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[moltenmetal]

jmw: you're right that some of the regional differences are there for good reason. But some of the Japanese regs which require certain goods to be made in a "certified" shop, which in very practical terms means ONLY a Japanese shop- sorry, but that's protectionism.

 

[jmw]

Moltenmetal,
you are absolutely right and we have only to look at the way they managed the auto market to see how they managed to sell their cars around the globe and minimise sales of any imports.
There we saw the original standards carefully contrived and then updated to always wrong foot foreign manufacturers.
I can't help thinking that while China may eventually come round to some sort of trade agreements, they will find this a useful model to protect their internal market.

Somehow, the Japanese always managed to dupe the politicians which is another reason why, though there are some good foundations behind your previous proposal, I would find government involvement in standards somewhat undesirable; they aren't smart enough and they will always have some other agenda that runs counter to the domestic manufacturer's and user's interests.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[EngCutie]

Thanks for the replies!!! The debates are interesting! I certainly learned a lot from all of you.

Had intranet in my last company, but it’s pretty useless. Don’t have intranet in the new company. I needed API standards; I have got everything I needed.

The IHS website looks good, but I doubt we will ever subscribe to it…


Cutie