b'PRESIDENTS LETTERChris WalkerStandards Development - Acronym SoupThe companies you see in theshouldassurethatallproducts pagesofTileLetterhaverepre- meettheclaimstheymakeand sentativesthatcontributetothedowhattheysaytheywilldo. processofcreating,reviewingTheyinstructthepurchaserand andupdatingtheANSI,TCNAinstallerhowandwherethey and NTCA technical documents.should be used.TherearemanyspokesontheUsingthemanualsisstraight-wheelthatrevolvearoundtheforwardonceyougetusedto standardsprocess.Therearethem.Butlikeeverything,they plenty of organizations and theirhave their own nuances that take acronyms.Identifyingthemcanatimeofadjustment. Thereisa beconfusingatbest,atworstthingwecallMethodsSpeak. intimidating.ANSIAmericanIgottolearnitsittinginmeet-National Standards Institute andings, listening to members of the theANSIManual;TCNATilecommitteesconstructlanguage CouncilofNorthAmericaandintended to keep everyone out of theTCNAHandbook;NTCAhot water, when inevitably, some-NationalTileContractorsthingdoesnotgoasplanned. AssociationandtheNTCASurprisingly,veryminorchanges ReferenceManual,MMSAto sentences and words in meth-Materials and Methods Standardsodslanguagecanhaveextreme-Association;andASTMlydetrimentaloutcomesinthe American Society for Testing andeventofafailure.Theperson Materials and its many manuals. most exposed in those failures is Thesegroupsworktoidentifyoften the tile contractor who also, installationproductsandmeth- sadly,isusuallythepersonleast odsthatmeetthehigheststan- capable of defending or paying for dardsofmanufacturingandareafailure,eventhoughtheymay instructionsforinstallingprod- beresponsibleforit.TheNTCA ucts that will repeatedly provideandotherorganizationsinvolved reliableperformanceandlon- withthemethodsdevelopment gevity. Thetestingrequirementsprocess bring their point of view 24TileLetter | December 2019'