Concept of Standardisation
Senior 1 · Entrepreneurship
Concept of Standardisation
Lesson 5 of 5
25 min
A small dairy in Nyagatare turns farmers' milk into yoghurt for shops in Kigali. (An illustrative case.) The manager counts the standards the dairy works to:
Some of these the law requires; others the dairy chose. They are different types of standard.
Definition
Product standard: a standard that sets requirements for a product itself: what it contains, its size, strength, performance or packaging.
Example: the composition and acidity of yoghurt; the size and strength of bricks.
Definition
Process standard: a standard for the way something is made or done.
Example: heating milk to at least 72 °C for 15 seconds, a common pasteurisation rule.
Definition
Service standard: a standard for a service: how it is delivered to customers.
Example: how quickly a bank serves a customer; how clean a hotel room must be.
Definition
Management system standard: a standard for how a whole organisation is run to achieve an aim, such as quality or food safety. Examples: ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), ISO 22000 (food safety), ISO 45001 (health and safety at work).
Example: the dairy organising its whole operation to meet ISO 22000.
Definition
Test-method standard: a standard that sets out exactly how to test or measure something, so that every laboratory gets the same result.
Example: the method for testing milk for added water.
Definition
Basic standard: a standard for terms, symbols and units that other standards use.
Example: SI units such as the kilogram and the metre; symbols on road signs.
Definition
Compulsory standard: a standard that the law requires products to meet, usually to protect health, safety or the environment. Selling a product that fails it is an offence.
Example: food-safety and labelling rules for packaged food.
Definition
Voluntary standard: a standard a business chooses to follow, usually to win customers or improve itself.
Example: the dairy's ISO 22000 certification; its 8 a.m. delivery promise.
| Type | What it covers | Example in the dairy |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Terms, symbols, units | Litres, kilograms and °C on every record |
| Product | The product itself | What the yoghurt contains; its acidity |
| Process | How it is made | Pasteurising at 72 °C for 15 seconds |
| Test method | How to test it | Testing milk for added water |
| Packaging and labelling | Containers and information | Sealed cups; the label's contents |
| Safety | Protecting people | Boots, gloves and hairnets |
| Service | How customers are served | Delivery before 8 a.m. |
| Management system | How the whole organisation is run | ISO 22000 food-safety system |
| Compulsory standards | Voluntary standards | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides? | The government, by law | The business |
| Why? | To protect health, safety, the environment and consumers | To win customers, enter new markets, improve efficiency |
| If not met? | The product may be seized or banned, and the business punished | The business may lose customers or a certificate |
| Examples | Food safety, electrical safety, labelling of food | ISO 9001 certification; a company's own delivery promise |
Tip
Ask "what exactly is being standardised?" The thing (product), the way it is made (process), the way it is checked (test method), the help given (service), the whole organisation (management system), or the words and units everyone uses (basic).
Worked example
Worked example 1: checking the pasteuriser (illustrative figures)
The dairy's process standard says each batch must be held at a temperature with for 15 seconds. The operator's record shows:
| Batch | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature held (°C) | 72.5 | 71.0 | 73.0 | 72.0 |
| Meets the standard? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (72.0 is allowed) |
Batch 2 fails, so of the batches must be heated again or thrown away, and the machine checked. Batch 4 is exactly on the limit, which the rule allows. Without a written process standard and a record, the failed batch could have reached shops.
Worked example 2: which type, and compulsory or voluntary?
| Standard | Type | Compulsory or voluntary? |
|---|---|---|
| Rules for the information on a food label | Labelling | Compulsory |
| ISO 9001 certification for a hotel | Management system | Voluntary |
| A method for measuring the fat in milk | Test method | Used by laboratories; required when the law refers to it |
| A bank's promise to serve customers within 10 minutes | Service | Voluntary |
Warning
A system certificate is not a product certificate. ISO 9001 or ISO 22000 certification says the organisation is run to a management standard; it does not by itself prove that a particular product meets its product standard, so it should not be printed on a product as if it did. And "voluntary" does not mean "unimportant": many buyers refuse suppliers that are not certified.
ISO, "The ISO 9001 family: Global management standards" (about 8 minutes, 2009). Watch for what a quality management system is and why businesses around the world choose ISO 9001 certification. It is an older video, but the ideas have not changed.
Practice
Further reading
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the Nyagatare dairy case, the tables, the drawings of three imaginary marks (not real marks), the worked examples and the practice items. The dairy's figures are illustrative (2026).
