5 7
HaWfiflKOM PQfi, Nr. Aon a. &eantlno
Ssvlct and festtn Snxopeen Bechances Staff Dsjartacat of Stat* Easalngtoo, D. C.
legation on Industrial Ste^trds
i. n* too herewithpackets of bse-txrooal reading tutorial for- Dalesntloa oo Stanaarfia as roouested carina
briefing, th* piotet*
eonoMatTtasliitlosoceat Soviet analysis of wof orgaalxattoa of stoadsr-la is. and ansa mterlals dealing with tho recant ecooasrla reforms.
&. toofor tha Joint sconoale Ccsndtteo of Congress hare been supplied so that tha dolesatee oar read7 off ftrt XV*
3- Bono of tho enclosures Is classified.
1- Tba Eorlst Standardisation Byte*
B- lo thTTOHlneIndojtTj (trans 1st ic*
lorist oxttsl*;
THETB STANWHDIMTION SiSTKM
Organization
The State Ccennittee for Standards, Measures and Measuringis the focal point for guiding and coordinating standards in the USSR, and itreat deal of authority and responsibility in this field. Otoe Committee consistshairman, deputy chairmen and members appointed by and responsible to thc Council of Ministers of the USSR. The current Chairman of the State Committee for Standards, Measures and Measuring Instruments is V. V. Soytsov. Hoegree of Doctor of Technical Sciences. Tho two highest officials under Boytsov are I. I. Hoviltov and V- V- TKachenSo.
She State Committee is divided into many departments according to functional and product responsibilities. Probably the largest of the product departments io that for machine building. The machine building industry in the USSR covers machinery for thc Metallurgical, chemical, end petroleum industries as well as machine tools, transportation equipment, construction equipment, agricultural equipment,tc. Other product departments Include the Metallurgical Division, the Chemical and Oil Products Division, the Electrotechnical Division, the Radio Electronics and Communications Division, the Light Industry Division, and the Packagingv
Those departmentsunctional responsibility Include the Measuring Technique Administration; the State Inspection Administration cliarRed with the observance of tbe application and use of standards-
the Foreign Relations Division; and the Division of Accounting and Registration of Standards and Technical Specifications. There are other departments, the titles of vhlch are more confusing than enlightening.
The State Committee apparatus is established throughout the Soviet Union und has offices in each Republic, with several offices in the larger, more Industrialized Republics. The Ccemiittee invites scientific and educational institutions and personnel to participate in theof standards and measures and is authorized to charge ministries, and other levels of Soviet administration with the development and revision of standards. There isheoretically ot leastextensive coordination among the institutions involved in setting and using the standards. Although there is probably considerable autonomy at plant, republic and branch levels in setting other than. national, standards, tho influence of the State Committee undoubtedly permeates these levels too.
The Scientific-Research Institutes
Among the institutions working on thc preparation and evaluation of standards, scientific-researchf which ure indirectly controlled by the Statehe design bureaus and experimental bases or the institutes (experimental bases are usually scientific organizations operating at the -print plant level) and the local state inspection laboratories, numbering, are probably the most important. The most Important institutes are the All -Union Scientific-Research [iiutltute of the Stata Committee for Standards, Measures and
Measuring Instruments of the USSRhich is the chief inspection organization and prepares measuring techniques as well; tho All Union Scientific Research Institute on Standardisation (VKIIS)hich is mainly concerned with preparation of the most important basic standards but is also charged with comparative analysis of the levels of standards and standardization in the USSR and foreign countries; the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Metrologyn Inly concerned with measurements; the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Normalization in Machine Buildinghich, as tho name suggesto specializes in standards and standardization of machinery; the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Physical-Technical and Radiotechnical Measurementsnd the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Information, Classification, and Codificationnder tho last named institute is the AU-Unlon Information Fund of Standards and Technical Specifications which is the central repository of information for standards. As ofhe fundtandards from moreountries and this stock was expected to continue to increase rapidly. The State Committee coordinates theof the Institutes in order to prevent unnecessary duplication of effort. Thus VNHM is' responsible for research into mass, force, and linear measurement and VNIIl1TRI--is. responsible for measurements of time, radio frequency, high and low temperatures, nuclear radiation, and properties of materials subject to high frequencies and voltages.
Qlhor Departments
Also subordinate to tho State Ccraaittoeublishing house andlants manufacturing sophisticated measuring instruments and repairing and evaluating imported instruments. The publishing house is nominally independent but uorhs in conformancelan prepared by the Committee. Itonthly magazine. Standards and Quality; onthly booklet. Measuringonthly Index of Standards containing rovloioas, new standards, and international agreements oniweekly newsletter; ad hoc handbooks; and general world information. International Activities of State Committee
Thc USSR, represented by the State Committee, participates in several international organixations on standards and measures and in the work -ofechnical committees of thc ISO alone. The State Committee ia responsible for in^lementlng the changeover to SI, the International System of Units, which the USSR fully supports- During the transitional period, expected to lost about ten years, new units are used in parallelwith tho old in drawings and specifications, and students in the field of standards are tutored in both the old and now systems. Categories of Standards
Tlie most important ore the State Standards known as GOST'o. COST is the Russian abbreviation for Stata,AH Union Standards. Almost all COST'S urc approved and published by the State Committee and are obligatory on all plants throughout the Union. According5 information, the only COST'S not approved by thu committee were civil engineering standards
which we're approved by the State Committee (now Ministry) on Construction, and especially important standardsperhaps military-relatedhich nre approved by the Council of Ministers. Almost half of the COST'S are raw materiallightly smaller proportion are for machinery, equipment, and tools, and the remainderalmostercentare for consumer goods. 5 the Committeehe so-called "Standard for Standards'* which defined an extremely detailed procedure for planning, preparation, coordination, approval, registration, publication, and distribution of standards and technical requirements. Apparently ad not yet been approved by
In addition to state standards, there are also republic standards
(olandards accepted within and among thc unionlargest
geographic administrative divisions within thcranch standards (formulated by and acceptedranch of the economy such as the chemicalnd plant standards. Branch and republic standards au well as QOST'n are registered with the State Committee.
In terms of numbers of standardo, there wore (as0 COST'S; somantcrrepublic standards, known asU's which can be Issued by plants, minl&terles, individual republics, or public or cooperative enterprises; moreN's or nvichine building norms;0 ON's which are norms of other branches of industry. The term norm is used In the USSK to designate standards for machinery and instruments (and alsoeasure of wrkor productivity in setting wage scales). it lc reported
that the una of thc torn norm in the context of standards will be phased out-
As partlanned improvement ln administration, the COST'S and machine building norms eventually will be combined into one system of COST'S, and the interrepublic and branch standards into one series of branch standards called OS's. COST'S, the state standards, and TU's arc the nout cocson standards. Terminology
Thc Soviets use the term standardization to refer to both the process of setting standards and tha process of Introducing products Into mass production. Specialization means thc concentrationew plants on the productionew items in large volume, as opposed to the situation (common ln tho USSR) whore many plants manufacture small quantities of many items. However, spoclollzatIon and standardization are sometimes used interchangeably by uninformed or careless Soviet bureaucrats and technicians. Unification ln the USSR refers to interchangeabllity' between different modeIn of standardized, mats-produced parts. Finally, there's typlfication, which appears torocedure whereby basic designs, parameters, or other specifications are provided upon which product variations can benspection Procedures
To>assure that Soviet standards are respected for products about to go into mass production the State Coerdtleeigorous testing regimen. Through Its laboratories and local offices and with
6
thc help of the Research Institutes, the Ccranlttee attempt* to ensure that al) prototypes aro fully tested. Maintenance of factory standards Is accomplished by inspectors via nundon sampling reportedly supplementedhorough testarticular day's productionear. Plane
Tho plans to improve industrial standards are being dove-tailed vith specific production goals as part of the overall economic plans in the USSR. Currently the USSR is procedlnglan7ive year plan. The Soviet monthly magazine on standards notes that the parts of these plans relating to standards are characterized by their coaprehensiveneos. Ia fact they call for upgrading standards for almost every product. Safety and "technical esthetics" two factors which have been among the most severely critized features of Soviet industrial products by Western observersare to be morefeatures of future Soviet standards. Incentives
Tho USSR ic also counting on incentives to upgrade standards, A bonuses for tbe introduction of better standards vere set upational system for the awarding of prizes for the introduction of new technology. rogram to tie standards lo incentives via quality, certification was announced Under this system each factory competes for the right touality symbol on its products. One symbol denotes production which neets the specifications of the state standard and is ccarparable to analogous foreignecond
symbol denotes quality equaling that of the best foreign models. The system is intended to be administered closely by the slatetate Certification Commission composed of technical experts,of public organizations and consumers. The Commission will operate through the institutes and laboratories of the State Cossaittee for Standards and will permit enterprises whichertificate to incroace the wholesale price of their product and to use part of the increased profits to pay bonuses. Close control la to be maintained, and if quality falters, the bonuses are to cease and the wholesale prices to be reduced- As of6 tho system waa in operation in onlyactories in Moscow, many of which were light Industry plants. (The quality symbolsmaller capital T. a tho Than, lnhe Comaltteo for Standards and tho Central Committee of the Trade Union of Workers of Steel Institutions sotecoration For Service to Standardization to be awarded to workers ln the field of standards for top-notch or even for conscientious consistent work.
Original document.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: