To be recognized globally as the premier developer and provider of voluntary consensus standards, related technical information, and services that: -promote public health and safety, support the protection and sustainability of the environment, and overall quality of life; -contribute to the reliability of materials, products, systems, and services; and -facilitate international, regional, and national commerce. This statement reflects the language of astm's charter and makes clear the society's commitments to the development and dissemination of high-quality standards and technical information in increasingly diverse fields, and to strengthening the acceptance and use of astm international standards in a global environment of international, regional, and national breadth.

Engineering & Technology , Technology

Founded in 1898, astm international provides a forum for a broad range of international stakeholders to come together to create voluntary consensus standards. These standards serve as the building blocks of international trade, product quality, and public safety. They are developed by some 30,000 individual members who represent multinational corporations, small businesses, government, and academia. Astm also offers ways for business and industry to better use our standards through training, certification programs, and laboratory proficiency testing. Following are examples of how astm staff and members support our mission to serve global societal needs and positively impact public health and safety, consumer confidence, and overall quality of life helping our world work better. Helping drive innovation astm internationals responsive, stakeholder-based standards development process is a key enabler of innovation in emerging industries: - commercial spaceflight: partly in response to a mandate for voluntary consensus standards in the u. S. Commercial space launch competitiveness act, stakeholders in this arena came together in 2016 to form a new astm committee on commercial spaceflight (f47). This committee plans to define core competencies for human spaceflight safety and create standards for design, manufacturing, and use of spaceflight vehicles. Subcommittees will focus on unoccupied launch and reentry vehicles, spaceports, occupant safety in both suborbital and orbital vehicles, and more. - 3d printing: standards are critical to fostering innovation in the additive manufacturing industry. Also known as 3d printing, additive manufacturing can advance u. S. Manufacturing and innovation by streamlining product design and reducing manufacturing costs. In 2016: astm and the 3mf consortium (an industry association that supports a new file format for 3d printing) signed an agreement to jointly work on standards and roadmapping to help bring state-of-the-art 3d-printing technologies to market. Astm international and the international organization for standardization (iso) celebrated five years of partnership in additive manufacturing by jointly releasing the additive manufacturing standards development structure, which guides the work of experts and standards development organizations, ensuring cohesion among additive manufacturing standards. Astms committee on additive manufacturing technologies (f42) created a standard to help manufacturers and buyers who want to use 3d-printed stainless steel alloys, and another standard that covers directed energy deposition, an important metal additive manufacturing process. - drones: with the faas 2016 promulgation of comprehensive regulations for drones, the work of astms committee on unmanned aircraft systems (f38) took on new relevance. This group of stakeholders developed a new standard that defines how to prepare the risk assessments that are needed for approvals in drone airworthiness, design, and operations. - response robots: astms committee on homeland security applications (e54) began work on expanding an existing suite of 15 test methods in 2016 for response robots that enhance public safety and protect the lives of emergency responders, such as bomb squads. The tests evaluate robot capabilities, reliability, and remote operator proficiency. - small and medium sized enterprises: in the u. S. , smes are the primary source of jobs and account for a large proportion of the gross domestic product. Smes are the largest group of u. S. Exporters and are a major user of imported goods. In response to their similarly significant impact on standards development, astm celebrated the year of the sme in 2016, encouraging entrepreneurs and small business owners to join while also thanking them for their contributions to creating high-quality technical standards. Astms membership structure is especially sme-friendly. With low fees and open membership for individuals and companies, sme e