A new metric standards book aims to help firms compete in a global market. The book, Metric Standards for Worldwide Manufacturing 2007, Electronic 7th Edition, by Knut O. Kverneland, includes sizes for fasteners, material, and components that conform to American standards in agreement with ISO. The book also lists globally used ISO standards in more than 500 detail tables.

The author says placing electronic versions of the book on company Intranets helps firms cut costs when designing and manufacturing to International standards. For example, six or fewer metric threaded-fastener sizes can replace more than 61 sizes used in old systems. At several thousand dollars each size, total savings can be significant.

The book includes a pictorial world-fastener index with names in English, German, French, and Italian, along with details on ISO 9000 Quality Management and ISO 14000 Environmental Management, and links to national and international standards organizations such as ANSI, ASME, ASTM, ISO, lEC, JIS, DIN, NF, and BSI. The book also provides numerous how-to examples for cutting manufacturing and engineering costs. The contents page includes such topics as Bearings, Nonferrous Material, Mechanical Power Transmission Systems, and The ISO System of Limits and Fits Tolerances Fluid Power Systems and Components.

The electronic version is available from ANSI at http://webstore.ansi.org. Hard copies come from KOK metricUSA.org Inc., www.kok.com/order.htm.