MHIA re-accredited by ANSI to develop national standards

The Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) has been re-accredited as a developer of American National Standards by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) following a regular audit of the association’s standards administration operations. ANSI performs an audit of accredited standards developers every five years.

MHIA administers a wide range of standards for material handling related products, including the following:

   * Automatic Identification (labeling, barcoding, RFID, etc.)
   * Casters and Wheels
   * Horizontal Carousels
   * Industrial Containers
   * Industrial Steel Storage Racks and Rack Decking
   * Industrial Shelving (using a variety of materials)
   * Industrial Scissors Lifts and Tilters
   * Loading Dock Levelers, Dock Boards, and Dock Restraints
   * Pallets, Slip Sheets, and Other Bases for Unit-loads
   * Underhung Cranes and Monorail Systems

In addition to national standards, MHIA also administers international standards work through various U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (USTAGs) on pallets, packaging, and freight containers to act as the US voice to the international standards development community.

MHIA and the U.S. have hosted multiple international group meetings, most recently the TC 104 Freight Containers meeting hosted by the U.S. in San Diego in January 2011.

MHIA is also administering the MH10.4 subcommittee on Packaging and Environment to serve as the U.S. voice on packaging/environmental/sustainability issues. A series of eight ISO standards and technical reports will be developed by the international committee. MHI and the U.S. hosted the most recent international meeting of this group during the first week of May 2011. Expected completion of the standards is in 2012.

Standards administered by MHIA may be found in the MHIA bookstore at http://www.mhia.org/bookstore and then clicking on the category “Specifications, Standards and Testing”. You can find nearly every national and international standard within ANSI’s search tool at http://www.nssn.org. The site allows you to enter partial document numbers, keywords, title words, etc. as search options. It is a valuable tool for anyone involved in standards development or looking for standards applicable to their work.

Participation in MHIA standards committees is open to anyone having an interest and ability to contribute. For more information, or to participate in this work, contact Mike Ogle, Vice President of Educational & Technical Services, at 704/676-1190 or [email protected].