Establishment of the Industry Standards Committee on Iron and Steel (ISC P)

he National Standards Committee (NSC) at its meeting on 7 March 2002, had approved the establishment of a new Industry Standards Committee (ISC) on Iron and Steel, in short ISC P.

The scope of ISC P is in standardisation in the field of cast iron, cast, wrought, rolled and formed steels and coated steels.  Presently, a total of 37 Malaysian Standards have been developed but under the authority of three separate ISCs i.e. ISC B (Chemical and Materials), ISC D (Building and Civil Engineering) and ISC F (Mechanical Engineering).

As such, to ensure ease of monitoring, it was felt that a specific ISC governing standards in the area of iron and steel should be formed to consider standards that were previously divided into mechanical, building and material standards.

This rationalising is further justified as the iron and steel sector is one of the major sectors in Malaysia and involves various industries, manufacturers and end users.  It is vital to standardise all iron and steel materials and their products for economic and technical reasons, including variety reduction, cost reduction, interchangeability and quality control.

Malaysia severely lags behind and the country relies on a mix of foreign standards and this has caused technical difficulties and economic disadvantages to both the local producers and users.  Thus, ISC on Iron and Steel is proposed for establishment to ensure more emphasis is given to the development of Malaysian Standards in the sector.

A total of seven technical committees (TC) were proposed and each TC would be responsible for the development of relevant standards under its scope and is also expected to closely monitor development of relevant standards under the respective ISO/TCs.  The proposed TCs are:

·         TC 1: Raw materials for iron and steel production and intermediate products

·         TC 2: Continuous mill flat rolled products

·         TC 3: Steels for structural purposes

·         TC 4: Alloy steels

·         TC 5: Iron and steel castings

·         TC 6: Steels for the reinforcement and prestressing of concrete and wire products

As for the composition of ISC P, the Chairman is Associate Prof Dr Teh Ser Kok of Universiti Malaya and other members are from the following organisations:

·         Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation (MISIF)

·         Persatuan Akitek Malaysia (PAM)

·         Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM)

·         Master Builders Association of Malaysian (MBAM)

·         SIRIM Berhad (Foundry Centre)

·         SIRIM QAS Sdn Bhd

·         IKRAM QA Services Sdn Bhd

·         Malaysian Structural Steel Association (MSSA)

·         Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

·         Universiti Malaya (UM)

·         Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA)

·         Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA)

·         Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia (JKR)

The ISC P’s first meeting was convened on 26 June 2002.  At this meeting members of ISC P decided on the direction and prioritisation of ISC P in standards development process, that is in line with the market development in the area of iron and steel.