American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) are important organizations in the flange industry. Each of them plays an integral role in developing the standards and codes that govern the industry.
Many people usually fail to understand the difference between the two or realize that these organizations are technically two distinct non-products that work separately and impact the flange industry.
Here in this blog, we’ve tried to make it clear about the difference between the two. Before that, we must explain the meaning of each term.
Meaning of ANSI
ANSI was established in 1918. The focus of ANSI is to oversee standards for services, systems, processes, and products offered in the US. The organization consists of members from organizations and corporations, as well as scholars from different academic fields, companies, and government agencies.
The primary purpose of ANSI is to work in a way to solidify the position of the US in the global market by establishing the standards for services and products. The goal is to ensure that the performance and feature levels of items created in the US are consistent and up to par.
Adding on, ANSI accredits organizations that train personnel and produce products to meet their established requirements and standards. They always keep an eye on and check if the services and products are meeting their standards well. They need to consider and update these performance requirements as per the need. They also play a huge role in some initiatives about environmental conservation.
Meaning of ASME
ASME was founded decades before ANSI in 1880 and is one of the oldest standards to develop the organizations in existence. The establishment of society happened after numerous failed occurrences of steam boiler pressure vessels that were devastating. The main focus is to create standards and codes for mechanical equipment.
In the industry, especially the ASME code, it is also called ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code. The main reason for its establishment is to regulate the manufacturing, development, and design of the boilers utilized in various industries.
ASME serves as one of the leading international developer codes and standards to regulate the mechanical engineering industry. It is one of the private organizations to promote multidisciplinary engineering, science, art and encouraging collaboration across engineering disciplines. ASME also involves various industry and periodicals publications, education courses, professional development, and conferences.
How ASME and ANSI differs
At the first look, you can see that ASME and ANSI seem to play similar roles in the industry. But in reality, many things set them apart. You can see it from the description above. Now here are a few crucial distinctions that set the two apart:
1. The foundation of ASME happened decades before ANSI came into existence. ASME was founded in 1880, while ANSI was founded in 1918.
2. The main focus of ANSI is to strengthen the US market position, while the focus of ASME was to develop solutions to mechanical engineering safety issues and problems.
3. ANSI accredits and established quality and performance standards for services and products in a huge variety of sectors, while the primary focus of ASME is on pressure vessels and boilers.
4. ANSI works towards strengthening the position of the US in the global market, whereas ASME works towards finding the solutions to real-time mechanical engineering problems.
5. ASME has developed 600 standards and codes for various mechanical devices, while ANSI has designated approximately 9500 standards.
6. The ASME members include engineering professionals and individual volunteers from other organizations as its members. On the other hand, ANSI members are chosen individuals from organizations, academic fields, government agencies, and corporations.
Conclusion
It is essential to know the difference between ANSI and ASME before anything. If you order a flange fitting at Texas Flange, you will get products that adhere to ASME B16.5, B16.47, or B16.9 per your project requirements.