Update from Debbie Chin
Meritorious Awards lunch held in Christchurch
On Thursday 21 July 2011, John Lumsden, Standards Council Chair, and I were delighted to host a special Christchurch 2010 Meritorious Awards lunch at the Russley Golf Club.
The Wellington and Auckland breakfast events were held earlier in the year. These events enable us to celebrate the winners of our Meritorious Awards each year and acknowledge and thank all of our dedicated committee members for their invaluable contribution to Standards development. For details about this year's Meritorious Awards winners, see our Touchstone article 'Celebrating our Meritorious Service Award winners'.
We held a workshop discussion after lunch on a number of topics including the recovery effort in Canterbury, emergency responses, and a range of Standards development matters. It was also interesting to hear our stakeholders compare, contrast, and share their different experiences for Standards development for the energy and gas sector, and the building and construction sector. One comment was made about how they were able to 'turn around' an amendment to a joint Standard within a few months.
Thank you to everyone who came along to the lunch and to those who could stay for the workshop discussion – both John and I enjoyed meeting everyone and having the opportunity to hear your views.
Many of our Canterbury stakeholders expressed appreciation for the personal good wishes and support received from everyone at Standards New Zealand. A number of organisations have taken up the 6 months free Online Library subscription available to Canterbury organisations affected by the earthquakes. We have extended this offer until 30 September 2011.
Many Canterbury committee members have appreciated being able to take advantage of the travel fund Standards New Zealand set up to assist participation in Standards development committees. Other committee members have used our Canterbury Room while in Wellington. For more information on this assistance, see our Touchstone article 'Assistance available for Cantabrians'.
International recognition for expertise – IEC 1906 Award – Chris Simpson
At the lunch, I was honoured to present another separate award to Chris Simpson. In 2004, the IEC established the 1906 Award to commemorate the founding of the Commission. This award is aimed at recognising the invaluable work of the technical experts working in the IEC technical committees and subcommittees and to draw the attention of industry management to their contribution to standardisation in these fields.
Each expert who is granted this award has made an exceptional, recent contribution to the development of a specific work project. The winner this year is a major contributor to IEC and AS/NZS Standards development and a resident of Christchurch – Chris Simpson.
Chris has worked for many years supporting both New Zealand and Australia on Standards applicable to gas detectors, intrinsically-safe apparatus, equipment for explosive atmospheres, and classification of hazardous areas and installation requirements.
Read more about Chris in our Touchstone article 'International award for development of gas detector standards – Dr Chris Simpson'.
Interoperability and Standards…
I enjoyed the following article, which appeared in the World Standards Cooperation Newsletter in May this year – it sums up the fundamental link between Standards and interoperability very well. The World Standards Cooperation (WSC) was established in 2001 by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC (www.iec.ch/)), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO (www.iso.org)) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU (www.itu.int)), to strengthen and advance the voluntary consensus-based international Standards systems of IEC, ISO, and ITU. Standards New Zealand is the New Zealand member for two (ISO and IEC) of these three international Standards bodies.
Standards make the world go round
Reading this article brought to my mind the ease with which we can use the internet, move money around the international banking system, and use the passport system for world travel – none would be possible without Standards…
Standards and interoperability are two sides of the same coin. The rationale behind Standards – whether for products, terminology, symbols or systems – is to make 'things fit together' to aid communication and understanding. This is also the prerequisite for effective interoperability. Often, the absence of a common Standard leads to a failure of interoperability. Progress comes to a halt, inefficiencies abound and costs rise.
Standards increase efficiency and reduce costs
Since the standardisation of the building blocks of the first major man-made structures such as the Egyptian pyramids, Standards have been developed to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
The result has been the dissemination of globally harmonised international Standards promoting the compatibility of a huge variety of products and services. The interoperability promoted through Standards is considered an inherent property of the product when it is functioning well. But were it to fail, the interoperability 'disaster' would hit news channels worldwide.
Did you know that the UK could have saved an estimated £25m (roughly £700m today) with their World War II effort if they had had today's Standards for screw thread sizes?
Standards interacting as never before
Today's products and systems – requiring traditional engineering and electrotechnical and tele-technical solutions – make complicated demands on interoperability. The massive investment in electric car development is a good example.
Future electric cars will require a completely new approach to interoperability to ensure they operate as intended. They will make heavy demands on supporting infrastructures such as recharging stations to enable overnight charging. Making this work requires the interaction of many different standards.
We can add electrical wiring and new innovations and technologies to this list.
Organisations developing international Standards are under pressure to deliver Standards that can interact in ways never seen before.
I strongly believe there is a real need for much closer cooperation between these organisations to establish the solutions demanded by the market. And of course, by doing this, we'll help create a better life and more sustainable environment for all of us.
Debbie Chin, Chief Executive
Standards New Zealand
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