How standards make us smarter

"The SNV is celebrating its 100th birthday" - around 150 standards experts accepted the invitation of the Swiss Standards Association to come to Winterthur on 25 September 2019 to the Technorama. Here they were welcomed by Robert P. Hilty, representative of the SNV Board, Marcel Knecht, Head of Standardisation at the SNV, and other SNV staff. Renowned special guests were also listed in the festive programme.

First, however, the invited experts went on so-called "Guided Tours" to local companies in order to gain insights into the significance of standards on site.

Innovation and sustainability
Historical example "Winterthur": where in the days of the Habsburgs the Eulach water powered mills, craftsmen later produced clocks and ovens with great skill and ability. In the 19th century powerful industrial companies were built up in Winterthur, which made the city widely known.

One of the five tours organized by the SNV was a guided tour through Winterthur. The tour provided a quick historical insight into how the city and its inhabitants had to adapt to social and technical developments. Today, most of the machines have been shut down, but local tech industries still shape the Swiss economy.

Historical example "Baden": On 2 July 1919, the Swiss Standards Association (SNB) was founded in the offices of the then BBC in Baden on the initiative of individual experts. In the course of the 1920s, it was renamed the Swiss Standards Association (SNV).

Since May 2019, the office of the Swiss Association for Standardization has been located in Sulzerallee in the heart of Winterthur.

Since the early 1920s, however, the association has been a full member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). In this way, the SNV ensures international cooperation in standardization.

Standards influence and accompany us everywhere in life - usually without the average consumer ever noticing. Swiss experts have played a key role in shaping standardization and have thus contributed to innovation and sustainability.

Compatibility through standardisation
The Briton Joseph Whitworth defined standard gauges (limit gauges, gauge blocks, plug gauges, test pins, etc.) from 1837. Only on the basis of such standardised components was it possible to replace defective machine parts. What future would e-mobility have in Switzerland today if there were dozens of different components in our regions alone?

Compatibility is the key word here, and standardisation formulates and provides guidelines and tangible features for industry, business and society.

"Standardization work is also a lot of pioneering work."

Standardization work is also a lot of pioneering work. For example, standards experts are involved in introducing the so-called Type 2 plug for electric cars as a minimum requirement for charging stations. There is now an SN (SN EN 62196) for this.

Of the more than 29,000 SNV standards themselves, more than 15,000 (as of 2019) were national adoptions of European standards, abbreviated to EN.

Whether energy and supply, transport and vehicles, recycling or waste management, there are many areas in which standards are significantly involved. In the respective standards committees, experts develop and publish corresponding guidelines.

Alongside other organisations such as MEM for the machinery or metal industry or asut for roads and transport and other partners, the SNV ensures interdisciplinary compatibility and interchangeability of standards.

Standardization work is also a lot of pioneering work. For example, standards experts are involved in introducing the so-called Type 2 plug for electric cars as a minimum requirement for charging stations. There is now an SN (SN EN 62196) for this.

Of the more than 29,000 SNV standards themselves, more than 15,000 (as of 2019) were national adoptions of European standards, abbreviated to EN.

Whether energy and supply, transport and vehicles, recycling or waste management, there are many areas in which standards are significantly involved. In the respective standards committees, experts develop and publish corresponding guidelines.

Alongside other organisations such as MEM for the machinery or metal industry or asut for roads and transport and other partners, the SNV ensures interdisciplinary compatibility and interchangeability of standards.

Expert work essential
The ability to systematically translate new findings into products, processes and services is crucial for the competitiveness of the Swiss economy. The Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV), founded in 1919 as the Swiss Standards Association, and its Swiss experts "have played a key role in shaping global standardization over the decades, thereby contributing to sustainability and innovation," explains the SNV in its invitation to the standards expert event.

Because without experts "standardization and thus the SNV" would not exist, the SNV invited its members to Technorama Winterthur on 25 September.

The announced tours after 2 p.m. took an average of two dozen standards experts through Winterthur and to regional companies. For example, to Stadler Winterthur AG, Switzerland, the competence centre for bogies; to Burckhardt Compression AG, the market leader for piston compressors; to Maag Recycling AG, a family-owned company; to the Kislig rope factory, which has been in existence since 1878.

However, the SNV's aim was not simply to provide insights into traditional companies or to deepen specialist knowledge, but to make standardization work "tangible with all the senses". After the tours, the participants returned to the exhibition hall at Technorama Winterthur.

Here, the keynote speaker Prof. Touradj Ebrahimi was waiting for them at 4.45 pm. The celebrated EPFL professor spoke about the significance of the omnipresent media format JPEG, an abbreviation for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which he co-developed.

social media, there are x times more images than there are people on this planet," explained Ebrahimi. He also introduced the audience to a novelty in JPG development:

"For the first time in the history of image encoding, we now compress less with JPEG XS to get better quality and use less energy."

These and other capabilities, such as low latency, will support future IT fields such as virtual and augmented reality, self-driving cars and 5G mobile networks. JPEG XS has been tested at the EPF Lausanne and is now close to approval by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The new format should first be used in professional image processing - "until it will certainly one day also be used in the consumer electronics industry", said the chairman of the JPEG standards committee, Prof. Touradj Ebrahimi, in conclusion.

The most famous Swiss paraglider pilot, Chrigel Maurer, then surprised the guests with his gripping multimedia show on the "RedBull X-Alps 2019" race, which he won for the 6th time. The Adelbode ner also emphasized how important expert knowledge is. The weight of his paraglider, his provisions and his clothing alone determine his success or failure on his European tours.

"It takes both of us"
Urs Fischer, SNV Managing Director, on the road since 2001 on behalf of the Swiss Association for Standardization, rounded off the ceremony with the following words: "I would like to thank all the experts from the standards committees who have appeared today. Standardization is a successful model of partnership, it needs both of us!"

Finally, he referred to the importance of standardization processes: "We are all honored that the public sector uses private standards. However, this also harbors dangers. At the European level, this has gone so far that time limits are now being imposed in standardization requests and the application of certain standards is being declared mandatory, thus giving these standards a legal character.

Unfortunately, the original idea and new perspectives that a new standard is supposed to illuminate are often "undermined" in this way. The positives still outweigh the negatives - "technical barriers to trade can largely be removed with the standards, and fairness and transparency are the result", emphasized Urs Fischer, adding a personal invitation to the closing speech:

"My three-year term on the ISO Board of Directors will end at the end of the year. It was an exciting and very positive experience. I have been able to expand my network and it is also available to our experts.

Finally, good and lasting technical discussions were held in the rooms of the Technorama Winterthur over an aperitif.