Standardization of Design – Design Ideas

Standardization is a critical feature of designs designed for industrial mass production. It allows components that make up the product to be combined with little or no modification.

Standardized components often allow for more interchangeability between products, ensuring that components from one product can be exchanged with another with little or no need for adaptation (Think IKEA).

History of Standardization

The first instances of standardization can be traced back to the ancient world of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who ruled from 221BC to 210BC, instigating an early arms development standardization process. Later, the Romans commonly used uniform elements to mass manufacture weapons and armour. Likewise, during the Middle Ages, European artisans used a significant degree of standardization to produce items serially, ranging from firearms to floor tiles. However, in the early 1800s, standardization began to be used more widely and systematically in designing mass-manufactured items, especially in the Portsmouth Block Mills Royal Navy, from 1803. Marc Isambard Brunel’s Precision instruments were used at this quayside factory to achieve a remarkably high degree of standardization in manufacturing wooden and metal rigging blocks needed in vast quantities during the Napoleonic Wars.

Precision machines increase standardization.

Various precision machine tools, including numerous lathes, milling machines and planers, were introduced during the early 1800s, all of which helped increase manufacturers’ ability to reach previously undreamt-of levels of standardization. A better degree of production quality came with greater standardization, which allowed manufacturers to realize the much-longed-for dream of interchangeability of components. One of the greatest proponents of standardization was the engineering genius Joseph Whitworth, regarded as “the best mechanic in the world[sic]” during his lifetime. It was Whitworth who set standards for screw threads. At the same time, his creation of remarkably accurate instruments, such as micrometres that could accurately measure up to one-millionth of an inch, heralded unparalleled levels of standardization. 

Standardization of firearm manufacturing

In America, the most notable standard-setting pioneers come from small arms manufacturing, with Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard helping to develop this idea by manufacturing firearms. The latter famously engineered a copying lathe capable of manufacturing several gunstocks simultaneously, all with a precise collection of standard measurements. This highly advanced machine, known as Blanchard’s lathe, thoughtfully increased production rates and eventually helped usher in the industrialization of war.

Manufacturers of all kinds, particularly those manufacturing sewing machines and bicycles, soon picked up the standardization techniques found in the armouries of ‘the North.’ Standardization and concomitant interchangeability gradually became known as the American System and was how large-scale industrial production became a fact of life in America and elsewhere. Today, standardization is essential for designing products for industrial production since it helps produce items easier, quicker, and cheaper.

Source

Fiell, C. J., & Fiell, P. M. (2019). 100 Ideas that changed design. Laurence King Publishing.

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