By definition the purpose of developing and adhering to standards is to ensure minimum performance, meet safety requirements, make sure that the product/system/process is consistent and repeatable, and provide for interfacing with other standard- compliant equipment (ensure compatibility).

Well said Dr Omid

I think one benefit is that your products and services would more easily accepted both at home and abroad as they comply with the requirements of the relevant standard setting body.

Many thanks,

Debra

Upon recognition of the socioeconomic conditions involved in a production process and the need for balance between the different actors, laws guarantee a level of quality, safety, consistency and reliability of the products or services and allows interoperability between various elements of a process. The rules often result in technical documents and / or legal containing technical specifications of voluntary or mandatory and are the result of dialogue and joint work of stakeholders (manufacturers, users and consumers, research centers and laboratories, professional associations , administering authorities, etc.). Intended or are often based on the results of the experience and the current technological development and become publicly available criteria, approved by bodies recognized in public, private or mixed standardization, national, regional or international in scope. The rules, once approved, are the basis of a common language and understanding among participants in a business process: companies, public administration, consumers. Setting standards, however, it tends to establish criteria and procedures that make it harder and extensive innovation and imposes barriers to technological change. In this sense, uniformity and certiumbre that achieve the established norms are opposed to the initiative and creativity of producers.

Thank you dear @Ricardo, Standards protect consumers. Standards make sure that products work together safely and as intended. So I am certain that they are needed to assure safety of products, to ensure that products and materials are tailored-made for their purpose. Further more, "standards" promote the interoperability of products and services, facilitate (international) trade by removing trade barriers, promote common understanding of a product. They are more beneficial than barriers.

I think the criteria that standards represent and the procedures formally established to ensure that goods and services are produced in accordance with those criteria are a much needed guarantee of quality. Putting some rare cases apart, I only see advantages for consumers. 

The advantages of using standards are primarily to ensure interoperability and, in matters relating to safety of the product, to ensure that the manufacturer has not overlooked important safety-related design requirements. Generally, a very good thing.

The disadvantages are mostly for the manufacturer, I would think. The biggest disadvantage would be for new products, for which standards don't yet exist. In this case, the manufacturer can either wait for a cumbersome, lengthy, often aggravating standards process to be completed, before marketing the product, or the manufacturer can market the product before the standards are finalized. This is common practice for brand new products. The consumer gets the latest and the greatest, but the product may soon become modified, to comply with the standard after the standard is released.

Dear Professor Omid,

Here where I work, we have internal quality assessments in which our performance is evaluated against indexes; results are converted into points. I firstly felt the disadvantages as I felt pressured, and at times disheartened by the criteria. But then after struggling to meet the criteria, I found that I could deliver better both in my classes and academic works. 

So, I think in education, standards might naughtily be thought of as putting straitjackets on teachers, or using cookie cutters. But, as I experienced it myself, the requirements lead to more effective and efficient teaching as well as higher intellectual capacity. And as one criterion requires good interpersonal relations, it's inevitable that EQ needs to be improved as well. So I think using standards, or struggling to measure up to standards in my case, is not bad after all.

Sincerely,

Cameen 

Some of my favorites quotes on standards and quality:

“Productivity and efficiency can be achieved only step by step with sustained hard work, relentless attention to details and insistence on the highest standards of quality and performance.” ~J. R. D. Tata

The ideas of control and improvement are often confused with one another. That is because quality control and quality improvement are inseparable.” ~Ishihara

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.” ~Peter Drucker

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs

Regarding the EU standards:

Standards help manufacturers reduce costs, anticipate technical requirements, and increase productive and innovative efficiency. The European Commission recognises the positive effects of standards in areas such as trade, the creation of Single Market for products and services, and innovation.

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/policy/benefits/index_en.htm

In UK, using standards can offer a set of powerful business and marketing tools for organizations of all sizes. You can use them to fine-tune your performance and manage the risks you face while operating in more efficient and sustainable ways.

According to the UK research reports, Economic benefits of standards are found as:

• £8.2 billion is the amount that standards contribute to the UK economy
• 37.4% of UK productivity growth can be attributed to standards
• 28.4% of annual UK GDP growth can be attributed to standards, equivalent to £8.2 billion
• £6.1 billion of additional UK exports per year can be attributed to standards

You can see more details at the following links:

http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/benefits-of-using-standards/

http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/benefits-of-using-standards/research-reports/

I am an engineer and you should consider my answer in this light.

Standards serves four purposes

·        Standards are a collection of good practices as recommended by the expert in the filed

·        The end user can be sure a minimum due diligence has been exercised (quality control and assurance)

·        In the case of dispute one can use “following a standard” as a defence

·        They  simplifies the design, facilitate communication by creating a shared understanding

The most import role of standards is to de-skill things to a certain extent, meaning not the user of a standard needs to be an expert of the field. This make the ability to work with a  larger pool of people.

One will always get excellent result

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"The benefits of standards

A standard is a commonly agreed way of doing something. Standards not only make life simpler but are hugely important in increasing the interoperability, effectiveness and efficiency of any repeated interaction. Standards can be published documents containing technical specifications, rules, guidelines or definitions. They are an important part of life in every industry. Standards save money and drive efficiency.

Standards are usually developed through consensus by experts and interested parties within an industry. They evolve to meet the continuing needs of an industry and in most cases, as with DDEX standards, are adopted voluntarily. In some environments such as health or construction, standards are mandated by a government or supra-governmental organisation.

Using a standardised method if expressing information and a standardised way of delivering it cuts out the need to adapt your systems for every organisation you intend to do business with. If everyone is using the same standards, communicating data becomes easier and cheaper, ultimately meaning there is more revenue to be distributed across the whole digital supply chain.

As the digital supply chain increasingly relies on high volume, low value transactions, only the use of standards can deliver the crucial operating efficiency required. Similarly, as margins are squeezed only an automated global transaction processing infrastructure based on these standards will provide the savings needed to reverse that trend."

Please, see the link 

http://www.ddex.net/benefits-standards

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Benefits of International Standards

International Standards bring technological, economic and societal benefits. They help to harmonize technical specifications of products and services making industry more efficient and breaking down barriers to international trade. Conformity to International Standards helps reassure consumers that products are safe, efficient and good for the environment.

Benefits of standards: the ISO Materials

ISO has developed materials describing the economic and social benefits of standards, the ISO Materials. They are intended to be shared with decision makers and stakeholders as concrete examples of the value of standards.

Facts and figures about the benefits of standards

The repository of studies on economic and social benefits of standards provides an insight of the approaches and results of the studies undertaken by different authors, such as national and international standards bodies, research institutes, universities and other international agencies.

For business

International Standards are strategic tools and guidelines to help companies tackle some of the most demanding challenges of modern business. They ensure that business operations are as efficient as possible, increase productivity and help companies access new markets.

Benefits include:

• Cost savings - International Standards help optimise operations and therefore improve the bottom line
• Enhanced customer satisfaction - International Standards help improve quality, enhance customer satisfaction and increase sales
• Access to new markets - International Standards help prevent trade barriers and open up global markets
• Increased market share - International Standards help increase productivity and competitive advantage
• Environmental benefits - International Standards help reduce negative impacts on the environment

Businesses also benefit from taking part in the standard development process. Read more about the benefits of getting involved in standards development."....

Please, see the rest of the article for more information....

http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/benefitsofstandards.htm

Standards are knowledge. They are powerful tools that can help drive innovation and increase productivity. They can make organizations more successful and people’s everyday lives easier, safer and healthier. A standard is an agreed way of doing something. Standards are the distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter and who know the needs of the organizations they represent – people such as manufacturers, sellers, buyers, customers, trade associations, users or regulators. 

The point of a standard is to provide a reliable basis for people to share the same expectations about a product or service. This helps to:

From: 

http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/Information-about-standards/what-is-a-standard/

Dear Mahmoud Omid,

International standards bring technological, economic and social benefits. They help to harmonize the technical specifications of goods and services, making the sector more efficient and contribute to the elimination of barriers to international trade. Compliance with international standards helps assure consumers that products are reliable, effective and safe for the environment.

The advantages include:

Regards, Shafagat

Using standards can offer a set of powerful business and marketing tools for organizations of all sizes. You can use them to fine-tune your performance and manage the risks you face while operating in more efficient and sustainable ways; they’ll allow you to demonstrate the quality of what you do to your customers; and they help you to see how to embed best practice into your organization.

http://www.bsigroup.com/en-IN/Standards/Benefits-of-using-standards/

Importance of standards

What is an inch? What time of day is it for all of the people in your time zone, in the rest of the world? What temperature does water boil. How many eggs in a dozen (a baker's dozen)?  So, it's difficult to imagine a world without industry standards. Without standards our society would not function. Human interaction depends on standards. Even our speech is ruled by rules. Our behavior is governed by the standards of manners and of course laws. We can't live as a society without an agreed upon set expectations to make our interactions predictable, rational and stable.  Which is the world's best organization in terms of quality and standards? Which is more important: standard of living or quality of life? Why?

However, standards are sometimes problematic too. They can become outdated by later information.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-explain-the-importance-of-standards-of-quality-and-standards-to-organizations

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"The advantages of using standards

The advantages in short

1. Our sites are displayed correctly in different environments.

2. Not only old browsers, but also the new ones are able to display sites correctly.

3. Increasing the accessibility of sites.

4. Optimized code guarantees lower loading time.

5. Standards compliant sites are easy to convert into other formats, such as databases, or documents like Word.

6. Standards compliant code enables to validate pages."....

Please, see the rest of the article for more detail...

http://www.t4tw.info/WaSP/standards_advantages.html

Why are standards important? Why are standards needed? What are the purpose of developing and adhering to standards?

Standard is yardstick to benchmark quality of products - without standard we don't know whether a product is fit for purpose / fit to use.  For products meeting standard, we as users / consumers are confident in using the products

What are the benefits of using standards? Please state both advantageous and disadvantageous of complying to standards

Advantages

Disadvantages

There are standards of many types; product standards, testing standards, compliance standards, and performance standards. All are useful and necessary. All are hinderances when technology is changing. Technology is always changing so standards are always a problem. Because technology is changing it is necessary to have standards so products are compatible. It is important to know when to enforce a standard and when to be flexible.

Advantages:

• Universality
• Consistency
• Benchmarking
• ...

Disadvantages:

• Restricted
• Out of date methods
• Used to prevent competition
• Based on incomplete information 
• ...

The only constant is constant change

Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.- Denis Waitley

In my day job I am a member of ISO27001 team who is responsible of Information Security Management System in our company. The reason we went to this standard was simply our customers' request to operate with certified party. In an essence it is all about the assumption that following the standard will provide predictable output e.g. in our case security risks are managed.

In engineering world standards are essentials to ensure that everything fit together with the lowest effort of calibration (less calibration = less point of failures), but in management standards world I would love to see a research that compares certified and non-certified organizations to find out if certification do matters e.g. does ISO27001 certified organization has less security incidents?

Standards have many advantages as expertly described by our learned colleagues.  I select the following as the most important reason for having standards

·         Base lining- They define the minimum requirements

·         End user assurance – The buyer/user can be assure what is he/she is getting

·         Shared understanding – Producer, seller and buyer can speak the same language or even dialect.

·         Standards make sure everything fit together

The down side is as soon some product is standardised it becomes a commodity and producer need another means to distinguish its products and position them favourably in the market place.  Standards define the floor only.  If you are producer of bricks or bulk producer of nuts and bolt, then standards will help everybody in the chain.  But being too rigid, then you might stifle innovation.  Consider standardising mobile phone, computers, aircraft, and cars and so on.  Even for these you can standardise to some extent.

I was/am involved in standardising subsea oil and gas production systems.  Oil and gas operators have got a lot of subsea production systems bought from different manufacturers.  Since this equipment doesn’t fit together, operators have to carry a large number of spare parts for the system breakdown. There are various ways to reduces spare part requirements; one of them is standardisation. But you get resistance from major manufacturers, citing innovations, patent proprietary products.  They are right since as soon as you make everything similar then copy cats are flooding the market products barely satisfying standards. You can’t make standards so high that only a few manufactures can comply.  One idea we followed, and still being followed, is modularisation, i.e. breaking a system into modulus (like your laptop), then their interfaces are standardise (like computer mother board). You can buy equipment from different manufactures and slot them in.  Again like laptop you can mix and match and not stifle innovation.

When people think about standards they have bulk material or production in mind.

"Standards should not be forced down from above but rather set by the production workers themselves.“ - Taiichi Ohno

In my opinion, the use of standards is the challenge of our era. Something like virtual engineering, reverse engineering or rapid prototyping for the manufacturing engineers…

The use of standards for management systems, for products and so on it is very important in our globalized market and globalized industry. The confidence provided by the accredited certification bodies that certify products or management systems can assure the circulation of the products on the market at international level and it can support the industrial globalization. The key of our new economical world is the standardization.

The main benefit of standardization according with referentials requirements (e.g. ISO standards) can assure the certification of the organizational  management system and / or the produced product. And this is only one benefit.

Some of the disadvantages can be the fact that complying with the standard’s requirements is not always very easy to be achieved, the management systems and the product certification requirements can be, sometimes, difficult to be implemented. Also, the world of the certification as assessment service, during the last period, diminished partially some of it’s main principles …

On brief …

Imagine a world without Standards

A reminder as to how much difference standardization makes is the example of overseas traveler who has to carry a suitcase full of adaptors from country to country. These plugs were all specified in the days before international standardization was widely recognized and they are a daily reminder of the universal value of Standards. Similarly, the example of a person trying unsuccessfully to connect a computer to a phone system in a country other than the one in which it was bought.

http://www.standards.org.au/StandardsDevelopment/What_is_a_Standard/Pages/Benefits-of-Standards.aspx

Use of standards make the quality of works standard. It can produce your work usable to  more and more people. Also, it can produce a platform to have competition among the other produces to give quality products.

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/application_standards/

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/application_standards/

Yes, there are benefits, but cost of standardizing some equipment is enormous.

Standardisation of bulk products (metals, paints, food stuffs, etc) is simple and can deliver the desired results. What is urgently needed is the standardisation of interfaces, for example the ability of connecting your hair dryer to the power unit in any country. Though, such compatibility is ideal it is very costly to implement. The first stumbling block is, which country’s system to adopt as the standard, or we change them all.

In the UK, the colour coding for the home wiring has been changed three time since 1968; the last one was due to compliance with the European standards. Of course you can’t change wiring in building easily or cheaply. Thus the new regulations apply only to the new constructions. The colour coding difference between old and new devices is causing confusion and possibly some safety implication.  

I can imagine in some countries there is no adherence to any colour coding, as equipment is imported from a variety of countries. 

Though it is difficult and costly to standardise what is going behind the seen, the interfaces can be standardised with some effort.

Dear Mahmoud,

I am going to pose this question for you and others:

You are at the entrance of a big and unusual (stress is on unusual) bridge spanning a mile and  you see a big bill board at the entrance saying that " All nuts and bolts, steel, painting, all material and lighting comply with ISO standard". Would this sign reassure you of your safety in crossing the bridge?

Now lets add more assurance. The bill board also tells you " This bridge is designed according to ISO standards".  Is you level of confidence raised by this statement- assuming everybody is honest to the T.  

Do you need something else to be reassured, or these are enough for you?. 

First I would like to see how others react to this question, then I will answer my own question. 

Having standards means that we should not settle down for anything less than quality, but anything left to itself will go from bad to worse sooner or later. So my short answer to above questions come from Murphy's law "Anything that can go wrong, will", at the worst possible time, all of the time, without fail, when you least expect it. But I am optimist not perfectionist. However, making the distinction between helpful/useful or unhelpful/useless standards is very difficult for people who are perfectionists.

  Using standards can offer a set of powerful business and marketing tools for organizations of all sizes.  There are lots of benefits of using standards, like

1. Market Growth for emerging technologies.

2 Reduce market risks.

3. Standards set the recognized level of quality,. Increase productivity and enhance efficiency.

4. Standards facilitate interchangeability of products and services designed for the same purpose.

Not many contributors dwelled on standards for design.

I am in oil and gas industry and In our industry there are four types of standards for the design and installation of oil and gas production facilities, which are

·        Integrity standards: This is to ensure the fabric of components during service life

·        Performance standards:  this is to ensure  how well a component must perform during its service life

·        Functional standards:  sets out the operational requirements

·        Interface standards  ensure the ability of integration of  components into a system

These standards are not prescriptive, i.e telling how to do things. They are performance based (or goal based standards as known in the UK), they only set out what needed to be done (i.e. what to be done) and leave how to achieve them to the designers.  To implement the above requirements the designers can use prescriptive standards such as ISO or API standards.  In offshore oil and gas all prescriptive standards are being gradually replaced by goal based standrds.

Standardization and certification in the field of safety and health at work (OSH) have undergone a continuous development in recent years, closely related to the development of the specific legislation and the state of art. Attached article contains a description of the processes of standardization and of the role of standards in ensuring a clear definite level of quality or safety of the products. There are presented: definition and classification of standards, standardization organisations, activities included in evaluation of conformity and certification (of products, processes, services or training) and the significance of CE marking of conformity.

https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Standardisation_and_certification

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog."            

                                                                   ------   Irving Babbitt

Standards drive the qualified products and reliable market.  

Hi Hazim,

Another gem from your chest of gems.

We have to differentiate between moral standards and industrial standards. Naturally we do well by looking up to standards (norms) set for our social interaction; as they are always forward looking. In contrast, industrial standards have a foot in the past and  you can do better than what is written in them. That why they are periodically revised to bring them to the current level of scientific progress. 

Standards are universally (or widely) accepted, agreed upon, or established means of determining what something should be. Major classifications of this term include:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/standard.html

Notable Quotes from BusinessDictionary.com

How Stardards Affect Markets

"Standardization affects markets in a variety of ways:

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/standard.html#ixzz45yC2GHco

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Benefits, Advantages and Disadvantages of Standards 

Benefits of Standards:

There are lots of benefits of using standards, like

1. Market Growth for new and emerging technologies.

2. Reduce development time and cost

3. Reduce market risks

4. Standards set the recognized level of quality.

5. Increase productivity and enhance efficiency

6. Ultimately reduce cost for consumers

7. Standards ensure that products perform the functions manufactured for.

8. Standards facilitate interchangeability of products and services designed for the same purpose

Advantages of Standards:

There are many advantages of using standards, they are,

Reducing costs

Increasing productivity

Reducing unnecessary variety

Ensuring interchangeability

Minimizing waste

Ensuring safety

Quality assurance

Disadvantages of standards:

There are lots of disadvantages also for using standards, for example we can take a coding standard,

1. The implementation of standard removes the creative element of the program

2. Standards force people to change their methods

3. Standards reduce productivity by forcing unnecessary actions

4. Standards do not prevent bugs.

There are some disadvantages to follow some International standards, Example ISO,

Major disadvantage of using ISO is Amount of money, time and paperwork required for registration.

An ISO certificate does not guarantee that the company delivers products in a superior quality. It just certifies the company.

Helps to mislead companies into thinking that certification means better quality."

Please, see the link...

https://chipkidz.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/benifits-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-standards/

The benefits of using standards

Using standards can offer a set of powerful business and marketing tools for organizations of all sizes. You can use them to fine-tune your performance and manage the risks you face while operating in more efficient and sustainable ways; they’ll allow you to demonstrate the quality of what you do to your customers; and they help you to see how to embed best practice into your organization.

For more plz read at following link.

Best wishes

http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/benefits-of-using-standards/

If anyone talks about benefits, what about the negative side of standards?

1. Limiting creativity. Non-standards products are extremely difficult to create. Even designers minds are shaped to follow standards.

2. Limiting market access to new companies. As standards are complicating business, the cost of starting a compliant business is increasing with each standard improvement.

3. Increased costs of the initial investments. Standard compliance generate extra design issues, including technological requirements that may not be always needed.

4. Standards create an environment that favors contagion. Similarity is a weakness in economy, despite whatever standards promoters say. Good practices are good as long as they are not widely spread. At some point they become weakness.

5. Standards encourage lack of responsibility. "standard compliance" discards the company from responsibility, while standard creators have no responsibility or accountability.

6. Standard creators are influencing all business with no accountability or responsibility. In practice if a flawed standard generate accidents or other negative issues, is presumed that the company did not followed the proper standards. But what if the standard is wrong, who is responsible? Nobody.

Standards are good, but not as good as conventional thinking may suggest.

In my opinion, standardization is one of the reasons of economic stagnation in the west. They have been good at some point, but they have overgrown their utility.

 Hi Bradut,

I am with you. 

Standards have their own place and value, only for common things. There not the Holy Grail or a panacea for every problem.

In a field of geotechnics standards are mostly helpfull in laboratory testings of soils and rock, in order to have a possibilities to compare the results in a "same" way in different world regions.On the other side, in a process of geotechnical design, strictly following of codes or standards leads to limiting of creativity.So, theare is a question if the standards in geotechnics are prerequisites for limiting or development of the geotechnical science.Here, I support opinions by colleagues Bradut and Yasseri.

My slogan is in favor of standards: 

Increase Your Standards --> Improve Your Life. 

In everyday life we hear:

Similarly, standards and quality products help to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty and reduce the risk and cost of replacing faulty goods. If you sell products in regulated markets, such as health care, food or electrical goods, you must be able to comply with health and safety standards designed to protect consumers. Accredited quality control systems play a crucial role in complying with those standards. 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/quality-important-business-57470.html

Yes, Prof. Dr. Bradut Vasile Bolos, every mechanism (including Standardization) may have positive and negative impacts.

So, we should modify it to achieve the more positive impacts.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"ISO 9000

.....   ADVANTAGES OF ISO 9000

The advantages associated with ISO 9000 certification are numerous, as both business analysts and business owners will attest. These benefits, which can impact nearly all corners of a company, range from increased stature to bottom-line operational savings. They include:

• Increased marketability—Nearly all observers agree that ISO 9000 registration provides businesses with markedly heightened credibility with current and prospective clients alike. Basically, it proves that the company is dedicated to providing quality to its customers, which is no small advantage whether the company is negotiating with a long-time customer or endeavoring to pry a potentially lucrative customer away from a competitor. This benefit manifests itself not only in increased customer retention, but also in increased customer acquisition and heightened ability to enter into new markets; indeed, ISO 9000 registration has been cited as being of particular value for small and mid-sized businesses hoping to establish a presence in international markets.
• Reduced operational expenses—Sometimes lost in the many discussions of ISO 9000's public relations cache is the fact that the rigorous registration process often exposes significant shortcomings in various operational areas. When these problems are brought to light, the company can take the appropriate steps to improve its processes. These improved efficiencies can help companies garner savings in both time and money. "The cost of scrap, rework, returns, and the employee time spent analyzing and troubleshooting various products are all considerably reduced by initiating the discipline of ISO 9000, " confirmed Richard B. Wright inIndustrial Distribution.
• Better management control—The ISO 9000 registration process requires so much documentation and self-assessment that many businesses that undergo its rigors cite increased understanding of the company's overall direction and processes as a significant benefit.
• Increased customer satisfaction—Since the ISO 9000 certification process almost inevitably uncovers areas in which final product quality can be improved, such efforts often bring about higher levels of customer satisfaction. In addition, by seeking and securing ISO 9000 certification, companies can provide their clients with the opportunity to tout their suppliers' dedication to quality in their own business dealings.
• Improved internal communication—The ISO 9000 certification process's emphasis on self-analysis and operations management issues encourages various internal areas or departments of companies to interact with one another in hopes of gaining a more complete understanding of the needs and desires of their internal customers.
• Improved customer service—The process of securing ISO 9000 registration often serves to refocus company priorities on pleasing their customers in all respects, including customer service areas. It also helps heighten awareness of quality issues among employees.
• Reduction of product-liability risks—Many business experts contend that companies that achieve ISO 9000 certification are less likely to be hit with product liability lawsuits, etc., because of the quality of their processes.
• Attractiveness to investors—Business consultants and small business owners alike agree that ISO-9000 certification can be a potent tool in securing funding from venture capital firms.

Please, see the link for detail..

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Inc-Mail/ISO-9000.html

Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications. The process for certification of a product is generally summed up in four steps:

Please follow the link to read the full procedure:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_certification

Standard allow for lower training overheads because team is versed on equipment.

Design turn around time is reduced because you know what model you are designing into your system, you know it's size and characteristics.

Reduced procurement time. As long as the bidding process remains but for extended period of say three years. Going out to bid just keeps cost under control it does not require you change your standards regularly.  

So, i suppose everything is great, just use standards, they are perfect. In academic world a one-sided debate is a clear sign of a underlying huge error that needs to be covered. 

As so few, if anyone is debating the pro-arguments, i must take the dirty job of being the "devil's advocate" (for those who do not know, it is a person designated to attack a thesis). In random order, and within available time constraints, i will challenge those ideas as being propaganda, not science.

1. Increased marketability, a supposed advantage of standardization, it is a false and highly debatable advantage. Entering the market where powerful corporations are behind the standards, and already have them designed to suit their purpose is highly difficult. Actually, standard compliance diminishes differentiation strategy to brand design only, reducing the margin for product and production design creativity.

2. Reduced operational expenses. That's simply not true, it's not the standard that reduces the expenses, but the process of management change involved that forces the company to improve the existing processes. However, the same process without standard compliance may generate better results if proper competence is hired for the job.

3. Increased customer satisfaction. Actually except corporate customers, consumers do not care about or know the standards. I bet the studies about standards and consumer satisfaction have been done, or supported sponsored by standards organizations, and are designed to prove the satisfaction of customers. If i would present a management standard compliance on the product label, would a non-corporate consumer know it is not a product quality standard? Would most of the audience know the difference?

4. Improved internal communication, in practice it means documenting everything, so it also means extended bureaucracy, which usually means higher management costs, slower decision processes, reduced organizational flexibility. That's nice for corporations, it is actually the final stage before death, or the path to a early death for SME's.

5. Reduction of product-liability risks, that's because companies can shift blame towards a non-accountable organization. That's a false premise, because brand damage done has an extremely high cost. Just remember Arthur Andersen, they were compliant with all standards, yet still responsible for Enron.

6. Attractiveness to investors, maybe it may be a factor, but i suspect a high profit margin, a good financial balance and a innovative fresh brand, may also do the trick. And lacking those, standards count for nothing.

I can understand some of you make a nice living out of standards compliance consultancy, and i completely sympathize, but don't sell promotion materials as science facts. If you do, use some scientific arguments to back the ideas. Beware that quotation of promotion materials does not count as scientific arguments, except in promotion research.

Dear @Bradut thank you for your comments. This is an open discussion and there is no prejudices toward one side. What most responded seems in favor of having standards, i.e.,  its benefits overwhelming weaknesses. To make a whole picture and for completeness I state  possible benefits, advantages and disadvantages of standards from the following site as already mentioned by Dear Hazim earlier.:

https://chipkidz.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/benifits-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-standards/

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"What is an engineering standard? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using standards in engineering?

Engineering standards are documents that specify characteristics and technical details that must be met by the products, systems and processes that the standards cover. The purpose of developing and adhering to standards is to ensure minimum performance, meet safety requirements, make sure that the product/system/process is consistent and repeatable, and provide for interfacing with other standard-compliant equipment (ensure compatibility).

There are several good sources on engineering standards, including the IEEE Standards in Educationand Standards Association portals; the website of ASTM International ; and the website of ANSI, the American National Standards Institute.

Engineers who work on wireless communications, are likely to be very familiar with the IEEE 802 standards; these deal with local area networks and metropolitan area networks. Engineers who work on building design would consult the ASCE 7-05 standard on."

please, see the link...

http://tryengineering.org/ask-expert/what-engineering-standard-what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-using-standards

“The quality of a leader is reflected in the Standards they set for themselves.”

                                                                           Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc 

"I’m big believer in starting with high standards and raising them. 

We make progress only when we push ourselves to the highest level.

If we don’t progress, we backslide into bad habits, laziness and poor attitude."

                                                                                                              Dan Gable

          “Western standards we are much more of a market economy than a public sector-driven economy”

                                                                                                   Manmohan Singh

“I want my car to be composed purely of those components whose principles have been tried and tested and accepted as reliable standards, in fact, I will name my car the Standard car.” This is a quote from Reginald Walter Maudslay, founder of the Standard Motor Company

Easy to use and easy to share (increase product popularity)

Standards Insure Buyer and Consumer Confidence

Standards ensure that they operate in a legal, honest and fair way. So even a standard logo or mark on the product provides certain degree of confidence for buyers.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"IT professionals have a responsibility to understand the use of standards and the importance of making Web applications that work with any kind of device."

                                                     ----   Tim Berners-Lee

“Raise your quality standards as high as you can live with, avoid wasting your time on routine problems, and always try to work as closely as possible at the boundary of your abilities. Do this, because it is the only way of discovering how that boundary should be moved forward.” ― Edsger W. Dijkstra

Harmonized standards versus rigid and narrow regulatory specifications

There are few tasks that neither the standards nor regulators, conformity assessment bodies and industry have yet to consider:

1. the suitability of standards for their scientific, technical or process oriented purpose;

2. the independence of standards from particular manufacturer or user interests;

3. the global validity and acceptance of standards.

International standards are developed by independent organizations on voluntary basis, to come into an agreement on specific matters, providing specifications on products and test methods, thus facilitating trade. Standards represent global consensus on a solution to a particular issue, they are a form to self-regulation since interested parties come together and agree voluntarily. And legislators can rely on standards, by referring to them in  legislation to ensure its uniform application and control.

Life in society makes laws and regulations necessary. As a corollary, thresholds (of safety, quality, efficiency, ...) are needed for industry and trade to act in benefit of society. Standards are built up to provide accurate description of criteria, measurements and testing to insure that the thresholds are met and to allow for comparison. As already mentioned above, harmonized standards bring a lot of advantages. However, distrortions still remain possible depending on the people in control of the development of standards and their implementation (e.g. insufficient independent testing, fostering specific design to disqualify competitors instead of triggering innovation, too low updating, ...). So the process itself of elaborating standards should be taken care of and evolve together with feedback from experience and steady adaptation to the state-of-art.

Thank you dear @Patrizia Rossi  and @Guibert Crevecoeur for your interesting comments on this thread. Most of the Standards are voluntary in nature and there is no obligation to conform to them. They represent companies' commitments to satisfying a recognized and approved level of quality and safety. By being cited as reference documents, standards can support mandatory regulations issued by public authorities. Only 2% of standards are mandatory. Yet having standards on products is preferable, due to:

Standardization

The importance of standards in our daily lives will surprise you! What do a sheet of A4 paper, drinking water, a safety helmet and a pressure cooker have in common? Standardization! All of these items have been the subject of important discussions at French, European and international level to reach a consensus on the criteria they must meet; criteria aiming to establish the best compromise between the state of a technology or procedure and economic constraints.

Resource:

http://www.afnor.org/en/core-activities/standardization/standardization-mission-overview

Good manufacturing practices (GMP), along with good agricultural practices, good laboratory practices and good clinical practices, are overseen by regulatory agencies in many countries. GMC guidelines provide guidance for manufacturing, testing, and quality assurance in order to ensure that a food or drug product is safe for human consumption. Many countries have legislated that food and pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers follow GMP procedures and create their own GMP guidelines that correspond with their legislation.

WIKI definition of GMP as follows: GMP are the practices required in order to conform to the guidelines recommended by agencies that control authorization and licensing for manufacture and sale of food, drug products, and active pharmaceutical products. These guidelines provide minimum requirements that a pharmaceutical or a food product manufacturer must meet to assure that the products are of high quality and do not pose any risk to the consumer or public.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_manufacturing_practice

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Where the private sector, or anyone else, has skills, knowledge and resources that can help to deliver a high quality of education and to raise standards, we should use them."                                                                                

                                                                     ----  Estelle Morris

A quote from Henry Ford (founder of Ford Company) :

"If you think of standardization as the best that you know today, but which is to be improved tomorrow; you get somewhere."

Thank you dear Guibert Crevecoeur for your quote of Ford. I also think It's impossible to live in a world without industry standards. They make products work better, make them compatible and able to interact with other products, and safeguard consumer safety. As Dr Konstantinos Karachalios, Managing Director of the IEEE-SA said "In a nutshell, standards fuel the development and implementation of technologies that influence and transform the way we live, work and communicate."

https://www.epo.org/news-issues/issues/standards.html

Did you know? Intelligent Packaging for Food, Beverages, ...

Active and intelligent systems are a branch of packaging that is truly innovative and offers. exciting opportunities for food safety, quality and convenience. Smart or intelligent packaging is packaging that illicits a response to a stimuli.

Active and intelligent packaging systems are continuously evolving in response to growing challenges from a modern society. The attached article reviews: (1) the different categories of active and intelligent packaging concepts and currently available commercial applications, (2) latest packaging research trends and innovations, and (3) the growth perspectives of the active and intelligent packaging market. Active packaging aiming at extending shelf life or improving safety while maintaining quality is progressing towards the incorporation of natural active agents into more sustainable packaging materials. Intelligent packaging systems which monitor the condition of the packed food or its environment are progressing towards more cost-effective, convenient and integrated systems to provide innovative packaging solutions.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0309174014001995?np=y

Standards in health care organizations

Establishing good ethical standards is important in health care organizations. Health care organizations and facilities must comply with federal and state standards in their treatment of patients and in facility operations. Health care executives are typically responsible for developing and maintaining these standards.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-good-ethical-standards-health-organizations-15449.html

Standards for Better Health

Standards of health profoundly influence economic performance and quality of life. Quality management has become a major concern in the delivery of health care.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068784/

  “Western standards we are much more of a market economy than a public sector-driven economy”

                                                                                                   Manmohan Singh

Well said by Prof. Mahmoud Omid

Have you ever wondered why some countries are better off than others? In this video (please see attached link), explore the concept of real GDP per capita, an economic measure of a nation's standard of living, and discover how population, productivity and the savings rate effect the standard of living. When the real GDP per capita goes up, standard of living goes up. A country that's able to produce more stuff with fewer resources is usually able to obtain other important things like food, shelter, clean water and freedom. In addition, people who live in countries with higher real GDP per capita tend to be more educated and live longer.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/how-real-gdp-per-capita-affects-the-standard-of-living.html

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"The advantages of using standards

The advantages in short

1. Our sites are displayed correctly in different environments.

2. Not only old browsers, but also the new ones are able to display sites correctly.

3. Increasing the accessibility of sites.

4. Optimized code guarantees lower loading time.

5. Standards compliant sites are easy to convert into other formats, such as databases, or documents like Word.

6. Standards compliant code enables to validate pages.

The advantages for people

Along with the increase in variety of methods to access Internet, adjusting and multiplication of web pages in order to satisfy all needs will become proportionally difficult (in fact it is believed that it is not possible even nowadays). Following standards compliance is a great step froward solving of this problem. Making your pages standards compliant will allow to ensure that not only traditional but also new browsers will display sites correctly, but also will support particular browsers and medium.

The most frequent consequence of that is the fact that access to your page is limited. It seems not sensible from the commercial point of view to restrict webpages only to a small number of visitors, when compared to what can be achieved. Limiting the access to your website even to a small number of receipients may mean substantial differences in your income. It would be a reasonable solution to ensure access to an educational page for not only children that come from well-off family possessing graphic browsers, but also for those coming from poorly developed regions using only text browsers. Also, handicapped students using special browsers belong to this group.

The same rule applies to all kinds of web sites - whereas avoiding standards and using features only characteristic of a particular browser may be a tempting option, increased accessibility caused by standards compliance will bring measurable benefits in the long run.

Stability

Most of the web standards are developed to acknowledge backward compactibility, so that the data that used old standards could be used in new browsers. Also, that the data that use new standards could easily produce similar results in the old browsers.

Since a web page may be developed by several following designer teams, it is crucial that all these people understand given code in order to edit it easily. Web standards offer a fixed set of rules that can be easily comprehended and put into life by every designer. Whereas one designer develops a site according to certain standards, the following one will be able to continue it from the moment in which it was ceased earlier."

Please, see the link....

http://www.t4tw.info/WaSP/standards_advantages.html

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES

......  

SUMMARY:  ADVANTAGES

In spite of the debate over state and national standards reform efforts, it is universally agreed by educators and experts that a key component of improving student achievement is raising standards.

In the 1996 National Education Summit, state governors, education leaders, and business leaders came to a consensus that use of standards will:

1. Help all students learn more by demanding higher student proficiency and providing effective methods to help students achieve high standards;

2. Provide parents, schools, and communities with an unprecedented opportunity to debate and reach agreement on what students should know and be able to do;

3. Focus the education system on understandable, objective, measurable, and well-defined goals to enable schools to work smarter and more productively;

4. Reinforce the best teaching and educational practices already found in classrooms and make them the norm;

5. Provide real accountability by focusing squarely on results and helping the public and local and state educators evaluate which programs work best.

Proponents of standards-based reform argue that flexibility in past reform efforts have not necessarily been shown to be successful.  State tests can highlight gaps and promote pressure for improvement, as well as demonstrate that these gaps will drive the resources to the most needy schools.  On a wider scale, a major advantage of standards-based reform is that standards and assessments can allow access of curriculum for all students, as well as more equitable outcomes.

However, it is generally agreed that in order to be successful, these higher standards must be aligned with reforms in testing, teacher education, improved teaching practices, and proper allocation of resources.

SUMMARY:  DISADVANTAGES

While several states are implementing some form of standards-based reform, there is very little empirical evidence to prove that standards, assessment, and high-stakes accountability programs are effective in improving public schools.  In many states, such as California, attempts to implement standards-based reform are inconsistently or carelessly aligned with quality research. The following are some of the shortcomings of standards-based reform.

1. Recent reports on the standards-based reform movement in New York suggest that in many schools the careless implementation of standards and assessment may have negative consequences for students.

2. Vague and unclear standards in several subject areas in several states complicate matters and do not serve as concrete standards defining what students should know and be able to do.

3. Top-down standards imposed by the federal or state government are also problematic.  They impose content specifications without taking into account the different needs, opportunities to learn, and skills that may be appropriate for specific districts or regions.

See the link...

http://web.stanford.edu/~hakuta/www/archives/syllabi/CalTex_SBR/procon.html

Dear Hazim, I personally thank you for last two comprehensive talk on "The advantages of using standards" and attached links. They were very informative. Unfortunately, good habits like adhering to quality standards, integrity, ... are rarely advertised.  This question is more of public awareness than propaganda and with your contributions and others we did a good job.

Standards are minimum controls of products. If one wants certain quality he must search the adequate standard for the product he searches.

What is meant by adequate standards of care?

The Certification Program sets the bar at the basic, good practices that clients should expect when doing business with the financial institutions that serve them. Adequate standards of care are met when an institution has taken the necessary steps to ensure that their clients are protected through implementing appropriate policies and developing suitable products. They don’t serve as a guarantee of every individual or institution’s behavior. The standards are simultaneously meant to be achievable for most financial institutions with the desire to meet them.

Please see the attached FAQ for more information about definition of various terms in standards.

http://www.smartcampaign.org/certification/certification-frequently-asked-questions-faq

Standards are useful for Uniformity, Recognition, and Acceptance.

Society needs standards!

Consider what the world would be like without standards:

• Products might not work as expected
• They may be of inferior quality
• They may be incompatible with other equipment – in fact they may not even connect with them
• In extreme cases, non-standardized products may be dangerous
• Customers would be restricted to one manufacturer or supplier
• Manufacturers would be obliged to invent their own individual solutions to even the simplest needs, with limited opportunity to compete with others

http://www.etsi.org/standards/why-we-need-standards

Product standards set criteria for the design, content, operation, and disposal of products to minimize health and safety or environmental damage. What Is Harmonization? The term "harmonization" is inexact and now encompasses the different processes for enhancing the use of policy instruments internationally. For the most part, the purpose of these efforts is not so much to achieve identical regulations or standards, but to converge international methods for developing and administering standards. Such approaches include pre-market harmonization, mutual recognition, equivalency, and reference standards. To date, these approaches have been applied almost solely to product standards (particularly for food and chemicals), and are primarily trade-promoting. Harmonization reduces the non-tariff barriers posed by testing and certification of products and the administration of standards.

http://www.ciesin.org/docs/008-062/008-062.html