(ISO: Geneva) -- ISO has just launched a compilation on CD-ROM of its entire collection of Technical Product Specification (TPS) standards, which are essential to manufacturing on a global basis, and provide a common language for product and contract specification, and other communication along global supply chains.

“It is hard to overstate the importance of the standards included on this collection,” says Henrik S. Nielsen, Ph.D., chair of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 213, which developed 106 of the 242 standards on the CD-ROM. “They quite simply form the base that supports the entire global manufacturing industry and enables worldwide communication of the geometrical requirements for manufactured goods.”

The "Technical Product Specification" (TPS) collection on CD-ROM is the latest compilation in the series of ISO Standards Collections, published as handbooks or on electronic media. The CD-ROM allows the 242 standards to be accessed easily and rapidly, and puts this library of standards into a conveniently transportable format.

Nielsen underlines the significance of the new collection, “You might think that the importance of TPS standards to mechanical engineering is declining as fewer and fewer people are employed in the manufacturing industry. But you would be wrong!

“While fewer people work in manufacturing, the world’s manufacturing output is actually growing due to increased automation. However, this can only succeed if the components being produced are functionally correct and do not need adjustment or modification to fit together.

“In globalized markets where designers and manufacturers are separated by language and time zones, this is only possible if there is a solid and unambiguous standards-based graphical language that allows business partners to communicate. The standards included in the ‘Technical Product Specification’ (TPS) collection on CD-ROM define that language.”

The TPS CD-ROM includes all the standards developed by ISO/TC 213—“Dimensional and geometrical product specifications and verification,” as well as relevant standards developed by other ISO technical committees, such as ISO/TC 10—“Technical product documentation.” The Technical Product Specification (TPS) collection on CD-ROM (ISBN 978-92-67-10510-9) is available from ISO national member institutes (see the complete list with contact details).