In our recent webinar we hosted Simon Powell, Senior Program Operations Manager for SAE ITC, who leads the Digital Standards Alliance (DSA). The conversation delved into the intricacies of digital transformation within the standards industry, highlighting the importance of collaboration, innovation, and the future of digital standards. Most importantly it expressed the need for industry, the customers and users of standards, to step up and contribute to the effort.
This is the first installment of a two-part blog series summarizing our conversation with Simon. Â
The Genesis of the Digital Standards AllianceÂ
The aerospace industry is probably as dependent on standards as any other – there is no room for error in an environment where even the slightest misalignment or weakness in manufacture, performance or quality control can lead to catastrophic outcomes. The use of traditional PDF standards in aerospace creates an immense amount of overhead in the discovery, interpretation, modification and implementation of the requirements from those standards for aerospace organizations and their complex supply chain.
This is why the aerospace industry is an excellent starting point for the Digital Standards Alliance.
The DSA was born out of a need for better collaboration between industry and standards development organizations (SDOs). It was initiated by key industry players Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SAE International, and Aerospace Industries Association, who recognized the necessity for an effective environment to address the digitalization of standards for aerospace. Their shared determination brought together a group that aims to accelerate solutions to the challenges faced by SDOs in delivering standards in a digital format that meets the evolving needs of their customers.
The Importance of Digital Transformation across the Standards EcosystemÂ
Digital transformation is an easy buzzword that risks reducing the scale of the challenge. For the standards industry, it is a potential overhaul of every aspect of their organizations and ecosystem — yet it is a critical evolution. Without digital standards, customer organizations will have to continue to expend unacceptable levels of resources interpreting and implementing industry standards.
Digital delivery in every industry is now the expectation. Only through this evolution will industry standards maintain their current respected and critical position at the heart of the design, safety and compliance landscape. Tolerance for accessing information through PDF documents will continue to decline until standards in their current form become obsolete.
The DSA seeks to make recommendations on how to modernize standardization processes from authoring and creation, through to production, distribution and implementation. If SDOs can make standards more accessible and useful for customers, then it is a win-win. SDOs will have a product for the future that is more valuable and flexible to meet future needs and their value to the market will be multiplied.
Thanks for reading so far – and please stay tuned for our second installment in this two-part series. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about the DSA and the work being done, please visit their site here and view the latest Digitalization of Standards whitepaper here.