Standards Corner - Technical Standards Committee

One of the many benefits of the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America (WMMA) is for the Technical Standards Committee to review and update U.S. standards.  These updates help to better reflect current safety and manufacturing considerations and to maintain competitive manufacturing in a U.S. and global environment. 

For example, when harmonizing (adapting/adopting) to international standards, the committee reviews not only for safety (of machine operation) but also how it affects manufacturing and manufacturing possibilities in the United States.  Other countries view manufacturing differently as their laws and legal systems can function quite differently.  Just blindly accepting a standard written for other countries can put U.S. manufacturing at a significant disadvantage to the point of even leaving the U.S. machines unavailable to export, or worse, not being able to market in the U.S. even though the machines are safe to operate but do not meet a blindly accepted international standard.  This is where the WMMA has American manufacturing interest.

If you know of American manufacturers who are not members of WMMA, please invite them to join WMMA and perhaps participate as a member and/or Subject Matter Expert (SME) of the Technical Standards Committee.  Anyone interested in helping to assure a safe and viable manufacturing base in the United States is welcome to apply for committee membership.

About the Technical Standards Committee

The role of the Technical Standards Committee is to monitor the world standards arena, educate WMMA members on the impact of specific standards on their business and watchdog to protect WMMA member interest in both U.S. and International Markets.  The Technical Standards Committee also oversees the Accredited Standards Committee O1. 

ASC O1 works to develop standards for the safe design, installation and use of woodworking and accessory equipment, used in industrial and commercial applications, having a total connected power of 3.7kw (5hp) or greater, or having 3-phase wiring.  WMMA is an ANSI-Accredited Standards Developer and serves as the Secretariat for the ASC O1.

Here is a quick look at some of the standards the Technical Standards Committee/ASC O1 are currently working on: