Standardization News

ASTM International Takes Road Show to Vietnam

Representatives from ASTM International hosted textile standards trainings and met with government and industry leaders during the Vietnam Road Show from Sept. 10-14.

The focus of ASTM International’s Vietnam Road Show was a pair of two-day trainings in Ho Chi Minh City focused on a dozen key test methods, practices, and guides for textiles. 

The courses were aimed at anyone involved in purchasing, testing, or evaluating fabrics. The first session – which was simultaneously translated into Korean – focused on training lab managers and managers of suppliers from Korean companies that have textiles facilities in Vietnam. The second session – translated into Vietnamese – helped train lab technicians and other Vietnamese professionals at those facilities.
Ellen Roaldi, a senior technical consulting specialist at Bureau Veritas, served as instructor. Roaldi, an active member of ASTM International’s textiles committee (D13), has nearly three decades of expertise in the textiles industry. 

Korean textiles companies with operations in Vietnam requested these trainings last year. The companies specifically cited the need to learn and apply these standards to engage in trade.

The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the South and Middle of Vietnam (KOCHAM) as well as the FITI Testing and Research Institute and the Korea Textile Inspection and Testing Institute supported the event.

Teresa Cendrowska, vice president of global cooperation, and Tim Brooke, vice president of laboratory services, coordinated Vietnam Road Show activities. They also visited the Hanoi-based Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality (STAMEQ), one of ASTM International’s 110 memorandum of understanding partners, and met with petroleum and concrete/cement companies, laboratories, and research institutes in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Teresa Cendrowska (fifth from left), vice president of global cooperation, ASTM International, and Tim Brooke (sixth from left), vice president of laboratory services, ASTM International, met Nguyen Linh (fourth from left), deputy director general, Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality (STAMEQ) as well as staff from the standards body, an ASTM memorandum of understanding partner. They were joined by Lee HeeSoo (second from left) KOTITI, and Jeong Jin-Soo (second from left).

Senior and technical staff from Petrolimex — Tập đoàn Xăng dầu Việt Nam (Vietnam National Petroleum Group) — a Vietnam industry group — met with ASTM staffers Teresa Cendrowska (fifth from left) and Tim Brooke (sixth from left). The meeting covered ASTM International, its work in Vietnam, and ASTM standards and related services that support quality, safety, staff proficiency, and international trade.

Ellen Roaldi, Bureau Veritas, and an ASTM member and subcommittee chairman, speaks about the use of ASTM International textiles and apparel standards during the Vietnam Road Show.

International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute and ASTM International Sign MOU

In October, ASTM International and the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute announced a memorandum of understanding to work together on standards for the cannabis industry. ICCI is the first Europe-based partner for ASTM International’s cannabis committee (D37), which has grown to more than 500 members worldwide in its first two years.

Under the agreement, the D37 committee will coordinate standards development activities for the global cannabis and hemp industry while ICCI, based in the Czech Republic, will gain benefits such as recognition of its technical contributions and free temporary membership to its members. ASTM International previously signed similar agreements with the Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS), the American Herbal Products Association, and the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp.

“Many of our stakeholders — universities, companies, associations, governments, and others — are laying the foundation for the safe use and legal commerce of cannabis,” said Martin Masilko, MBA, ICCI chief operation officer. “To meet the pressing need for cannabis standards, we are pleased to be coordinating our resources and efforts with Americans for Safe Access Patient Focused Certification program into one activity under ASTM International, one of the world’s top standards organizations.”

Stakeholders involved with the two organizations say they are prioritizing a cannabis cultivation standard followed by standards related to cannabis cosmetics as well as food supplements and extracts. ICCI’s involvement will also strengthen the committee’s collaborative efforts in medicinal and laboratory-related standards too.

“ICCI’s global expertise in this fast-growing industry is well known,” said Ralph Paroli, Ph.D., the cannabis committee chairman and the director of R&D in measurement science and standards at the National Research Council of Canada. “ICCI’s engagement in this new committee will strengthen international standards development, identify gaps, prevent duplicative efforts, and more.”

After requests from industry, the ASTM International cannabis committee formally organized two years ago. The group includes businesses, laboratories, associations, governments, and others. The committee’s next meeting will be held Jan. 27-29, 2019, in Houston, Texas.

Standards Experts Come to ASTM International

ASTM International is hosting five standards experts in November as part of its Standards Experts Program. The experts arrived on Oct. 27.

Adel Al-Qhtani is a standards specialist with the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), the regional Gulf standards body based in Saudi Arabia. Al-Qhtani has worked with GSO since 2014 and works with the GSO technical committees developing standards for water production and distribution. Al-Qhtani is particularly interested in the ASTM committees on steel, stainless steel, and related alloys (A01), and A01 standards for piping, and corrosion of metals (G01).

Abdulaziz AlShowair is a standards specialist with GSO. He has 5 years’ experience from the Saudi Standards and Quality Organization, where he worked before moving to GSO. He has been with GSO for 8 years. AlShowair has an interest in ASTM activities for consumer products (F15) and steel for mechanical boilers.

Fulgence St. Prix has been a technical officer for seven years with the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), which is based in Barbados. Prior to CROSQ, St. Prix worked for 20 years in the engineering and construction fields. He continues to be interested in standards for construction and energy efficiency.  St. Prix is also involved in the development of a regional standards strategy and has interest in international relationships.

Asirawat Phothiphan, a standards officer, has been with the Thai Industrial Standards Institute for 12 years. In addition to learning about the operational aspects of ASTM International,  Phothiphan will focus on ASTM standards for plastics (D20) and plastic piping systems (F17). 

Felipe Calvo Villalobos has been the coordinator of the standardization department for the Instituto de Normas Técnicas (INTECO) in Costa Rica since 2016. He is an industrial engineer with nine years of experience working at INTECO. Villalobos is responsible for different national committees in areas such as construction (steel), management systems (quality, business continuity, risk), and social responsibility and public transportation).

ASTM International Sponsors ARABLAB 2019

ASTM International will be a supporting partner of ARABLAB 2019, March 12-14, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

ARABLAB is considered the largest global trade show for laboratory science and instrumentation, with an expected 10,000 visitors from over 100 countries. More than 1,000 exhibitors will be in attendance, showcasing the newest technologies from laboratories worldwide.

A variety of industries in which ASTM International has standards will be represented at ARABLAB 2019, including forensics and security, robotics and automation, material testing, nanotechnology, petrochemicals, and more. 

“ASTM International is pleased to be a supporting partner of this global event,” according to Nick Ecart, the organization’s director of business daevelopment for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “We look forward to ARABLAB each year as it allows us the opportunity to work with laboratories worldwide to educate industry professionals on the value of ASTM International’s high-quality standards and services.”

ASTM International supports several events in the Gulf region each year, including ADIPEC, the World Heavy Oil Congress & Exhibition, Project Qatar, the Oman Downstream Exhibition & Conference, and the Annual Quality Assurance for Sustainable Construction Materials Conference and Workshop.

On Sept. 26, Teresa Cendrowska, ASTM International vice president of global cooperation, participated in a session on standards for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, where she reported on the breakout session discussion on SDG6 on clean water and sanitation. The session was part of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe/International Organization for Standardization event, Standards for the SDGs, held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ASTM European office in Brussels hosted the sixth meeting of the European Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standards Coordination Group, an initiative funded by the European Commission and chaired by the European Organization for Civil Aviation Electronics to map existing UAS standards and identify gaps. Members of the initiatives are European and International standards setting bodies and industry representatives.

Visitors from the Korea Conformity Laboratories visited ASTM International headquarters on Oct. 18 to learn about ASTM standards, particularly related to furniture tipover. From left: Sang Joon Lee, manager of the global business team, Korea Conformity Laboratories; Hyung Seok Kim, senior research engineer, Korea Conformity Laboratories; James Olshefsky, ASTM director of external relations; and Youngkook Kim, attached ASTM staff from the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards.

Representatives from the China Building Insurance Alliance, led by Zhenli Huang, president of the Beijing Zhenli Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Technology Co. Ltd., visited ASTM International headquarters on Oct. 18. Discussions covered ASTM construction and insurance standards, technical committees, and possible future collaboration.