Standards Yield Monetary Savings: Interchangeability provides effective gains

When purchasing system components, you always wish to get the best value. Reputable companies should work to sell you only that which is the best solution for your needs. In some instances however, vendors instead want to purchase only their product. Purchasing components manufactured to national or international standards can save you from the expense and anguish of vendor lock-in.

The expense of vendor lock-in isn’t an easy to quantify cost. It won’t show up on a bill, and it’s not something you can easily calculate either. The idea behind standards compliance is that all manufacturers use the exact same interface. For example, in the early days of trains, one train might run on a track that is 2 ft wide, while another runs on a track that is 3.2 ft wide. You couldn't run a train from the 2 ft wide track on the 3.2 ft wide track, and vise versa. To make it easier to move throughout the country, the train companies realized they needed to standardize on one track.

The same type of scenario occurs in valves and cylinders. The manufacturers decided that it would be adventagous for the customers to be able to run a valve from any company on any other companies' manifold. This would make it easy to switch from one company to another. Despite there being valve standards, some manufacturers still offer their own custom manifolds.

In some cases, vendors will place their own custom valve manifolds in applications in which they aren't needed. If one of the components in the system needs to be replaced, because the interface is unique to a certain manufacturer the component must be from that manufacturer - which is referred to as vendor lock-in.

Vendor lock-in may not be a problem ordinarily. If reliability, pricing and delivery are all at the levels you require, there may be no need to worry about it. However, if a valve were to fail and the vendor that locked you in didn't have any in stock, you couldn't call a competitor to sell you a replacement valve - it wouldn't fit. If the valves were of poor quality, you wouldn't be able to switch your valve company, and if the prices were increased extensively, you would have limited options to find less expensive components. This same scenario exists in cylinders as well. Standards exist, but often vendors push non-standard devices.

To prevent yourself from facing these scenarios, there are a few standards you should be aware of and request from your vendors:

For pneumatic valves, the ISO 5599/I, 5599/II, 15407-1 and 15407-2 standards are widely accepted and used by approximately 95% of all standard valve manufacturers. The ISO standard covers most small to medium flow applications, and includes specifications for drop-cord or manifold mounted wiring.

In the hydraulic world, the NFPA D03, D05 and D08 standards are widely accepted and used by nearly all valve manufacturers. The NFPA standard is applicable to nearly every hydraulic application typically used in a factory or mobile environment.

So to help save money and reduce your operating expenses, request standards compliant valves. It can help keep your machines running longer and your costs lower.