Concept of Standardisation
Senior 1 · Entrepreneurship
Concept of Standardisation
Lesson 3 of 5
20 min
Nkurunziza is building a small house in Bugesera District. He bought bricks from two makers. The first batch was even and strong; in the second, some bricks were longer than others, the walls would not line up, and a few bricks crumbled after the first heavy rain. His cousin, a mason, told him: "For building, you need bricks made to a standard: one that fixes their size, their strength and how much water they soak up." (An illustrative case.)
Think about it: a standard for bricks and a standard for maize flour must be very different. What does each need to fix?
Definition
Subject of standardisation: the thing a standard is about: a product, a process, a service, a system, or even words and symbols.
Example: building bricks; maize grain; hotel room service; the symbols on road signs.
Definition
Field of standardisation: a group of related subjects that are standardised together, usually by the same experts.
Example: the field of construction includes bricks, cement, steel bars and roofing sheets.
Definition
Aspect: a feature of the subject that a standard fixes: for example size, composition, strength, safety, performance, test method, packaging or labelling.
Example: for bricks: length, width, height, strength and water absorption.
Definition
Tolerance: the amount by which a measurement is allowed to differ from its stated value and still meet the standard.
Example: a brick meant to be 230 mm long may be allowed to be between 225 mm and 235 mm.
| Field | Examples of subjects | Aspects a standard may fix |
|---|---|---|
| Food and agriculture | Maize grain, dry beans, milk, flour, honey | Moisture, cleanliness, pests, additives, labelling |
| Construction | Bricks, cement, steel bars, roofing sheets | Size, strength, water absorption |
| Electrical | Plugs, cables, phone chargers | Safety, voltage, fit with sockets |
| Chemicals | Soap, detergent, fuel, paint | Composition, purity, safety warnings |
| Textiles and leather | Uniform fabric, shoes | Fibre content, strength, colour-fastness |
| ICT | SIM cards, Wi-Fi, file formats | Compatibility between devices |
| Services | Hotels, tourism, banking | Cleanliness, waiting times, customer care |
| Health and safety | Motorcycle helmets, medical gloves | Protection, strength, hygiene |
| Measurement | Units, market scales, fuel pumps | Accuracy |
| Environment | Packaging, waste water | Recycling, limits on pollution |
Real examples from our region: the East African Standards EAS 2, Maize grains: Specification and EAS 46, Dry beans: Specification set requirements for the grain traded every day in Rwanda's markets, the same grain as in Uwamariya's business in Unit 5.
Whatever the product, standards and food rules usually require certain information on the label, so that buyers can choose safely and a problem can be traced.
Tip
The thing, its family, its features. The subject is the thing (bricks). The field is its family (construction). The aspects are the features the standard fixes (size, strength, water absorption).
Worked example
Worked example 1: do the bricks meet the size rule? (illustrative)
Suppose a standard says bricks are 230 mm long with a tolerance of 5 mm either way. So a brick's length must satisfy
| Brick | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length (mm) | 228 | 236 | 231 | 224 | 233 |
| Within tolerance? | Yes | No (too long) | Yes | No (too short) | Yes |
3 of the 5 bricks pass: . A maker whose bricks fail this often needs to standardise the mould and the method.
Worked example 2: subject, field and aspects
| Subject | Field | Aspects the standard fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Maize grain | Food and agriculture | Moisture, broken grains, foreign matter, insects, mould |
| Motorcycle helmet | Health and safety | Protection in a crash, strap strength, visibility |
| Hotel room service | Services | Cleanliness, time taken to respond, staff training |
Warning
Don't confuse the subject with the field. "Construction" is not a subject; it is a field containing many subjects (bricks, cement, steel). And a subject is not only a physical product: a process (how milk is pasteurised) and a service (how a bank serves customers) can be standardised too.
Collect three packaged products at home or in a shop (for example flour, soap and a drink). For each, copy which of the eight label items in the drawing are present, and note any quality mark. Which label is the most complete? Which information was missing?
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the Bugesera case, the tables, the label drawing, the worked examples, the activity and the practice items. The brick and nail tolerances are illustrative, not taken from a real standard. No suitable video was found for this lesson.
