One World, many standards

From Auckland to Zanzibar, the problems faced by the off-highway industry remain remarkably constant. Yet standards do not. Two industry experts discuss some of the roadblocks to global harmonization of standards.

“I've been traveling the world for a good part of the last 39 years,” says Gerald H. Ritterbusch, “and I can tell you that rock is about the same regardless of where you go.”

With this admittedly simplistic view of geology, the Director of Standards and Regulations for Caterpillar, Inc., introduces the complex subject of global harmonization of standards. The analogy is appropriate: although it can be argued that rock falls into many categories, the construction industry worldwide agrees almost universally on which machines are best suited for certain jobs. But the technical standards applied to the design of those machines are as varied as the faces of the machine operators.