Standardization
Almost since industrialization first started, industrial standards have existed in Europe and the United States for small parts such as spacers, distance sleeves, slide bearings, insulating sleeves, nuts, finishing washers, quick connectors, screws, bolts, circlips, drive fasteners, and washers. So why do we see a huge increase in the use of non-standard parts?
This question is also being asked by plant managers, who face increasing difficulties in finding the space for the enormous number of containers required, each holding a different type of small part. Standardization—that is, striving to use as many standard parts as possible— is an antidote to this trend. The savings that can be realized in material costs, production, service, and logistics are obvious. Ultimately, this approach reflects the idea behind introducing industrial standards in the first place, namely to make life easier for engineers.
The process of standardization is easy to manage. The first step is to identify parts or groups of parts that can be replaced by standard parts. This is followed by selecting the standard parts best suited for the job, based on simple substitution criteria—that is , similarities in material, material properties, dimensions, and tolerances; comparability of surface coatings; and similar or enhanced functionality.
Standardization programs tend to face a number of obstacles. Here are some of the objections frequently heard:
"Every technical change also means changes to the drawings, and that will take too much time."
"Small parts are parts with very low costs, so it ’s not worth making any changes."
"The customers do n’t want changes; we would have to get every single change approved by customers."
"To implement standardization, we would have to make major changes to our processes."
The most powerful lever for overcoming these obstacles is to bundle all the standardization ideas into one big program. This usually allows a convincing volume of savings to be achieved, and consequently, an acceptable ROI.