Can Standards Keep Pace with Technology?
Standards organizations face growing pressure to develop reliable guidance quickly enough to support emerging technologies without compromising quality.
As technology continues to advance at an accelerating pace – turning what once seemed impossible into widely adopted reality almost overnight – it raises questions about how quickly future innovations will emerge. It also prompts consideration of whether this rapid development could eventually make standards impossible to develop in time for implementation or render them obsolete altogether.
It took decades for interconnections to evolve from wire-to-wire assemblies into printed circuits, then another decade to move from 12mil lines and spaces to 7mil. It took only about five years to advance from 7mil to 5mil, and then to 3mil. Clearly, the pace of technological development has accelerated, just as Gordon Moore’s “Moore’s Law” predicted. Today, technologies such as ultra-high-density substrates – so small they can barely be seen and unimaginable just a few years ago – are now commonplace in electronics. Along the way, organizations adopting these technologies sought assurance that they had been properly verified to perform as intended and validated to be manufactured consistently, even by different suppliers. This need gave rise to the development of industry standards, however.
The challenge is that developing a high-quality standard takes time. The process involves identifying critical failure modes, creating test vehicles, and determining the appropriate number of tests or cycles needed to verify the materials and processes used in the technology. It also requires assembling the right experts, conducting testing and analyzing the results. Standards can be developed more quickly today than in the past, however. The key question remains whether the process can be shortened enough to keep pace with the increasingly rapid development of new technologies.
Another complication is that, as technology advances more rapidly, companies increasingly view the technologies themselves – along with the materials and processes used to produce them – as proprietary information or intellectual property they are unwilling to share with standards organizations or competitors. In the past, collaboration was generally viewed as serving everyone’s best interests. Today, many companies see new technology as a competitive advantage instead. As a result, the industry is often left to rely on a company’s assurance that its technology will perform as claimed and will not negatively affect related technologies upstream or downstream.
Which brings us to the question: Why have standards in the first place? The answer is simple and important: to mitigate risk.
Risk takes many forms. The most important is safety. Products must not harm the people who use them, whether that means preventing an appliance from causing a fire, ensuring a vehicle’s brakes function reliably, or having confidence that an aircraft will take off, fly and land safely. Safety also includes ensuring the materials used in products do not pose health risks. Reducing these risks is one of the primary reasons strong industry standards are essential.
Financial risk is another important consideration. No manufacturer wants to face legal liability because a technology or component incorporated into its product failed. Using technologies produced to recognized standards significantly reduces that risk.
Risk also increases when a product or technology is available from only one source. Multiple qualified suppliers capable of producing the same technology with consistent quality and reliability reduce the likelihood of production disruptions for products that depend on those technologies.
Standards also create a level playing field, reducing risk for both customers and suppliers. Increased competition lowers costs, encourages innovation and expands adoption by making technology more affordable and delivering greater value.
As advanced technologies move from concept to production in ever-shorter timeframes, standards developers must find ways to reduce the time required to bring new standards to market. Risk again becomes the central issue. If creating a standard takes significantly longer than developing and widely adopting the technology it is intended to support, standards organizations must evaluate the efficiency of their own processes. Which steps are essential? Which add little or no value? Which consume the most time, and how can they be improved while still generating the information and data needed to produce effective standards?
Companies operating at the cutting edge – or even the bleeding edge – of technology development should have a strong interest in accelerating the standards process. These organizations, along with employees who contribute to standards development, should actively support efforts to shorten development timelines and work with standards bodies to create more efficient processes without compromising quality. Doing so benefits the entire industry, while providing the greatest advantage to the companies introducing the next generation of technologies.End of article content
Peter Bigelow has more than 30 years’ experience as a PCB executive, most recently as president of FTG Circuits Haverhill; peterbigelow@msn.com.