(ISO: Geneva) -- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ASTM International have signed an agreement to increase their cooperation in developing international standards for additive manufacturing—which refers to the process of joining materials to manufactured objects, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to “subtractive manufacturing” methods, such as machining.

The Partner Standards Development Organization (PSDO) cooperation agreement was approved at the ISO council meeting that took place in September 2011, in New Delhi and signed by Rob Steel, ISO’s secretary-general, and by James Thomas, president of ASTM International.

The agreement provides new opportunities for the two organizations to adopt and jointly develop international standards that serve the global marketplace in the field of additive manufacturing. It specifies development approaches, as well as publication and distribution arrangements. The agreement is expected to optimize stakeholder resources in developing standards on additive manufacturing where both ISO and ASTM have expertise, helping to shorten standards’ development time and their availability to the market.

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