SEDA Safety Scene Online
November 2002
TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE NEARS COMPLETION OF STANDARDS
SEDA's Technology Task Force has been toiling for nearly two years on a project that will be of great interest to every safety equipment distributor and their trading partners. The industry's first standards for electronic data fields are nearly complete, and will be distributed to members in the near future. This is a breakthrough achievement that could simplify electronic commerce for every industry member, regardless of size or present use of technology.
By way of background, nearly two years ago, SEDA and ISEA sent surveys to members asking them to identify key fields they had in their respective data files relative to product identification. Fifty-four respondents (almost evenly split between manufacturers and distributors) provided their input. The various field elements were reviewed by the technology task force, and were categorized according to whether they were required, optional or to be deleted from a format standard.
After prioritizing and "scrubbing" these fields, the task force is now at the point of establishing the format standards to be applied to the fields. The eight "required" fields are being reviewed by eight member companies (four distributors and four manufacturers) to create a "standard format" for these fields.
The next step is to construct a simple example of how various companies within the industry can use these standards to create one translation from the standard to their legacy systems with these fields. This will assist manufacturers and distributors with the sharing of information between systems more expeditiously. The format standards that are developed will be transportable between different platforms and systems as well.
SEDA Vice President Jerry Nichter of Orr Safety is leading this effort, with assistance from President Mike Stamn. Other members of the task force are Chris Kairys, MSA, Peter Moore, Bacou Dalloz, and Andy Mitchell, Safety Today.