Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1132012
52 • JULY 2019 • WORLD FENCE NEWS Standard(s) Stuff ASTM and the fence industry BY STEVE SAUCERMAN Whether you're a fencing profes- sional who earns their living in manu- facturing, sales or contracting, a por- tion of your workday is likely devoted to the reading and interpretation of specifications. If you find yourself in the latter two fields – sales and contracting – these specifications most often find their way into your life via bound manuals that often accompany full sets of architectural/engineering working drawings and make up com- mon bid or commercial construction design packages. If your specialty is manufacturing, you may even be the one creating the specifications. Regardless of how you got there, you've also likely noticed a number of acronyms that tend to pop up over and over again in the text – especially in the acceptable requirements or ba- sis of design sections of a particular product or application set forth for the project. Common acronymical candidates include UL (Underwriters Laborato- ry; www.ul.com), ANSI (American National Standards Institute; www. ansi.org), ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers; www.asce.org), USGBC (United States Green Build- ing Council; https://new.usgbc.org) and many more, depending on the type, size and complexity of the proj- ect. There's another acronym you've almost certainly come across: ASTM. ASTM stands for the American Soci- ety for Testing and Materials, an or- ganization founded in 1898 by Charles B. Dudley (PhD) who – at the time – was a chemist with the Pennsylva- nia Railroad (which may explain why ASTM's world headquarters would someday be located in West Consho- hocken, Pennsylvania). Today, this organization is widely recognized throughout the world as the go-to source for construction and manufacturing consensus standards. With over 12,000 published stan- dards developed by more than 30,000 of the world's top business/technical authorities in 140 countries, ASTM provides an unprecedented wealth of specification, classification, applica- tion and manufacturing knowledge that governs the vast majority of building and manufacturing happen- ing today. ASTM – Why? To understand the motive force behind the need for an organization like ASTM, one must go back to the U.S. industrial revolution of the early and mid-1800s. Locomotive builders and rail pro- ducers were ramping up production levels, and the speed and sophisti- cation of the process was reaching a point where companies could no lon- ger rely (as they'd done in the past) on the experience of older, key members to dictate levels of quality and prac- tice. It was just too much. In addition, end-users (again, par- ticularly railroads) were encountering more and more instances of suppliers furnishing inferior materials or not backing bad products after the fact. To combat these events, some manufacturers began issuing propri- etary, detailed descriptions of ordered materials to ensure their expectations were met. The U.S. government even began asking steel makers to regular- ly sample and test batches of steel, to judge tensile strength, elasticity, etc. during normal operations, essentially spawning a new era of true standards and practices in U.S. manufacturing. But as one might expect, some suppliers and manufacturers were less than enthusiastic over the new system. They pushed back against these new practices, complaining that the strict- ness of the specifications and cost of testing was unfair to their companies. Some also felt the new require- ments would allow customers to too easily reject or decline products they deemed "unfit." This is where Dudley came in. Dudley redirected the company's chemistry department to analyze and qualify the technical properties of oil, paint, steel, and other materials em- ployed by the railroad. Based on his findings, Dudley then began to com- pile and distribute standard material specifications for the company's sup- pliers. By 1878 (and having benefitted from the elevated data generated by the frenzied manufacturing activ- ity brought on by the Civil War), he continued on page 54 SUPERIOR FENCING, RAILING, ESTATE & CUSTOM GATES AND ACCESSORIES 3 Locations To Serve You 1-800-783-1331 Chesterfield Township, MI (Corporate) 1-888-222-1846 1-888-426-7270 Port Richey, FL Murfreesboro, TN www.elitefence.com Set Yourself Apart From The Competition! Get It In The Ground First By Using Our QuickShip Program! Proud Distributor Avalanche Series™ Concealed Fastener Fence Yorktown Series™ 5/8" x 3/4" Picket Ornamental Fencing Glass Panel Railing Estate Gates Ornamental Railing ZipTrack™ Cantilever Gate We are environmentally responsible