Jinan Foundry and Metal forming Machinery Research Institute’s proposal to establish an ISO foundry machinery technical committee was officially submitted to ISO’s secretariat by the National Standardization Administration on Dec 1, 2015. It passed approval at the 66th session of the ISO technical management bureau held in Geneva from June 15 to 16.

The new committee was numbered ISO/TC306 and will be engaged in foundry machinery and corollary equipment standardization. Its secretariat is set in the institute. The committee is the first of its kind in China and the first in Sinomach.

Foundry machinery development, especially in die-casting machines, modeling, core-making and shot/air-blasting equipment, has made great strides in China over the years and been in the forefront of the global market. Relevant products have been exported to Europe, the US and Japan. However, lack of related international standards has affected international trade and technical cooperation in foundry machinery. The foundry machinery work environment features high temperatures, voltages and speeds, and poses a certain risk to workers. Therefore, relevant international safety standards are needed. In addition, foundry machinery manufacturing consumes a great deal of resources and energy, which leads to heavy pollution, so it’s necessary to formulate relevant international standards to preserve energy, protect the environment, and maintain sustainable economic development.

The proposal received great support from the Standardization Administration.

The institute showed great interest in the application work. It set up an ad hoc team headed by its chairman, Zhang Bo. The team visited domestic units where ISO secretariats were trained in ISO/TC application procedure and work. At the same time, it communicated with relevant foundry organizations in Germany, the UK, Japan, South Korea, India and Bulgaria and introduced to them China’s proposal, which won positive responses.

Approval of the technical committee marked China’s foundry machinery industry being recognized by its counterparts in the international community and created a platform for China to carry out foundry machinery international standardization. The approval plays a positive role in improving China’s foundry machinery industry, increasing China’s international competitiveness, boosting China’s participation in international standardization, helping China keep track of and adopt international standards formulations and modifications, expanding China’s foundry machinery exports, and strengthening China’s voice in the field.

According to the national standardization administration’s procedures the president and secretary of the technical committee must be elected, and the committee’s strategic task and scope of work must be determined. The foundation meeting to accomplish those tasks will be held soon.