How to Make Standardization a Key Driver for High-Quality Development? Former ISO President Zhang Xiaogang's Interpretation on CCTV

Recently, Zhang Xiaogang, former chairman of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), gave a clear and easy-to-understand explanation on the theme "How to Make Standardization a Lever for High-Quality Development" on CCTV's "China Economic Lecture Hall," using rich cases and in-depth thinking.

Zhang Xiaogang linked China's manufacturing being large but not strong and the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity to the relationship between standards and quality: standards are the technical foundation of quality; to achieve high quality, there must first be high standards.

Regarding the connotation of high-quality development, Zhang Xiaogang pointed out that the 19th National Congress proposed that China's high-quality development quality is not only product quality but more importantly refers to the quality of enterprise development, industry development, economic development, government development, and national development. Without understanding the connotation of China's high-quality development, one cannot find the lever for high-quality development. Promoting high-quality development urgently requires further strengthening of standardization work.

To achieve high-quality development, the problem of China's manufacturing being large but not strong needs to be solved. Zhang Xiaogang analyzed that the vast majority of China's traditional manufacturing industries, through 40 years of reform, opening up, and technological catch-up, have now reached a level of running alongside in many industries. The gap we face is not a bottleneck issue but a shortcoming to be addressed. It is not only the weak technical foundation of China's manufacturing industry but more so the weak quality technical foundation of China's manufacturing industry.

Zhang Xiaogang took China's automobile radial tire steel cord as an example. Compared with the world's high-quality products, China has only a slight gap. This slight gap is not a gap in the industrial technical foundation but a gap in the industrial quality technical foundation.

Zhang Xiaogang explained that the quality technical foundation is an internationally accepted concept, including metrology, standards, certification and accreditation, and inspection and testing. Metrology solves the problem of accurate measurement; the quantity value in quality is uniformly specified by standards; how well standards are implemented needs to be judged through inspection, testing, and certification and accreditation. To judge product quality, metrology testing is required. Enterprises need to control product quality through data obtained from metrology testing to effectively improve product quality. The accuracy of data plays a crucial role. Only when data is accurate and recognized can products and standards be recognized. The premise of mutual recognition of standards is mutual recognition of data. Now that our data accuracy is gradually guaranteed, issues such as the accuracy of inspection and testing data, data tampering prevention, and real-time monitoring can all be realized. Data mutual recognition is the foundation of standard mutual recognition, and standard mutual recognition is the solution to China's manufacturing being large but not strong, insufficient scientific experimental verification capability, and the problem of addressing shortcomings. Only when data is accurate and recognized can products and standards be recognized.

What is the goal of the high-quality development of Chinese manufacturing? Is it the number of Chinese enterprises in the Fortune Global 500? Or is it China’s GDP becoming the world's largest? Zhang Xiaogang gave a negative answer to both. He said the mark of success for the high-quality development of Chinese manufacturing is whether we can cultivate a batch of, a dozen, dozens, or even hundreds of world-class enterprises that can stand at the top of the global industrial chain. He said that in the past 10 years, China has made great progress in the internationalization of standards, which is our confidence and our true backing for the future rise of Chinese manufacturing in the world.

Zhang Xiaogang analyzed three recent trends in international standardization development. First, standards lead. In recent years, a new business model has emerged in high-tech fields: standards come first, then products, followed by industrialization. This will change the traditional business model of products first, then standards, and then industrialization. Second, standards are expanding into the field of social governance. Standards used to only solve product quality issues but are now shifting towards solving social governance issues, government management issues, and enterprise management issues. For example, ISO's anti-bribery standards, social responsibility standards, and compliance management standards all belong to social governance standards. Third, finding solutions for global environmental governance, such as ISO's carbon footprint standard established in 2013. Leaders of various local governments in China and entrepreneurs, especially those of export-oriented enterprises, must attach great importance to the carbon footprint standard, and Chinese enterprises must pay early attention.