In our recent post, “Part 1: Digital Standards Alliance – An Opportunity to Accelerate the Transformation of a Critical Industry” we provided a summary of a recent CCC webinar hosted by Simon Powell, Senior Program Operations Manager for SAE ITC, who leads the Digital Standards Alliance (DSA). We covered the foundation of the Digital Standards Alliance, as well as the importance of digital transformation across the standards ecosystem. If you have not watched the webinar yet, we recommend doing so before reading below.
Our next part of the two-part series will cover collaboration and membership, barriers to overcome, and the future of digital standards.
Collaboration and Membership
One of the key themes Simon discussed in the session was the importance of collaboration. The DSA encourages standards development organizations (SDOs) and industry members to work together, sharing resources and expertise to develop the required innovative solutions. Membership in the DSA is not just about joining an organization; it is about contributing to a collective effort to solve the industry-wide challenge of digital transformation within the standards industry. The DSA has already seen significant growth, with new members like American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), DIN Solutions, and UL Standards and Engagement joining the founding members. Further SDOs and US government agencies are currently signing up.
Overcoming Barriers
There are numerous, significant barriers to digital transformation for SDOs.
First, one of the biggest challenges is understanding and then aligning against the needs of different sectors – the standards ecosystem publishes many different types of standards (materials, products, processes, management systems, test specifications) in every single domain and industry – so, where to start? The DSA is focusing on targeting those standards that can offer the most benefit in being delivered digitally.
Second, even if standards were published in digital formats tomorrow, would different customers and industries be ready and able to adopt them? There are many answers to that question! It is important to work in domains and on standard types where the audience is ready to work in collaboration with SDOs to adopt and improve digital formats.
Another hurdle is fostering true collaboration between SDOs, which requires shared investment and innovation. Most organizations in today’s world have limited resources and SDOs are relatively small organizations with varied commercial resources and statuses. In general, they tend to be dwarfed in size to their corporate customers. The DSA aims to address these barriers by facilitating conversations and projects that bring together their diverse stakeholders, and channel, initially, the (aerospace) industry voice.
Early Projects and Pilots
To make the discussion more concrete, Simon shared details about two early projects the DSA is working on.
The first project, “Automated Compliance”, focuses on transforming existing standards content into multiple formats that are practically useful for different roles within the manufacturing workflow. The second project addresses the issue of standard parts, exploring ways to introduce processes upstream in the standards production process to generate useful data models and usable outputs. These projects illustrate the DSA’s commitment to practical solutions that can make a real difference in the industry.
The Future of Standards
Looking ahead, the DSA is poised to play a crucial role in the digital evolution of standards. Simon’s closing message was clear: the DSA is here to accelerate progress, and it needs the support and engagement of industry and SDOs alike. By working together, we can ensure that standards remain relevant and useful in the digital age.
There is an opportunity now, our aerospace industry colleagues need to take it.
You can learn more about the DSA by visiting their website here, view the latest Digitalization of Standards whitepaper here, and DSA projects in flight here.