27th IFHTSE CONGRESS & EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON HEAT TREATMENT 2022

The ISO 20431 standard is currently being finalized and will be available soon. Experts from 7 countries (Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, China and France) have been working on this project for several years. This standard is designed to be flexible and can be used worldwide in different industrial sectors (automotive, aerospace, civil engineering, energy, fasteners, etc.). The standard compiles requirements and recommendations. It allows the organization and the controls performed to be evaluated according to the customer's objectives and the supplier's capabilities, which vary from sector to sector. An evaluation of non-binary criteria, in the case of recommendations, produces a result with a success percentage. In this way, continuous improvement is achieved. Once implemented, the ISO 20431 standard will be an effective tool to improve the quality level of heat treatment workshops worldwide.