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Kay M. Villa
Kay M. Villa Consulting, Inc. |
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“By attending committee meetings regularly you learn about any new advances in your subject area from the other experts or by attending educational symposiums sponsored by the committees.” |
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Who is your current employer and what is your current position? |
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I am a self-employed consultant at Kay M. Villa Consulting, Inc. and serve as president of the company |
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Where did you obtain your undergraduate/ graduate degree(s) and in what fields? |
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I earned my B.S. in textiles and interior design from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and my M.S. in textile engineering and science from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. I've also taken additional graduate classes in my field at NCSU and the University of Maryland - College Park. |
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When and why did you become involved in ASTM International? |
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I joined ASTM in 1990 after two of my mentors at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, John Krasny and Jim Winger, suggested that I should get involved in the development of fire test method standards. Many of the research activities at the agency have led to the development of fire testing procedures and equipment, and a large number of these have been adopted as ASTM standards. |
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In which committees are you active? Are you a committee officer; if so, what group or groups? |
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My primary professional focus is in these areas: flammability of materials; protective clothing; and consumer safety, education and labeling. I'm active in ASTM's Committees D13 on Textiles, E05 on Fire Standards, and F23 on Protective Clothing as well as the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
I've served on a number of ASTM committee task groups and for the past six years I've served as the chairman of D13. From 1998-2000, I also served on the ASTM Board of Directors. I'm also an instructor for ASTM's Technical Professional Training classes and have been doing this for eight years. In addition, I have served as the secretary of ISO TC 38/SC 19 Burning Behavior of Textile Products and am currently the vice-chairman of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO TC 38 on Textiles. |
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How do you apply ASTM standards in your work? |
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Many of my clients are textile, apparel, and retail companies. Our joint work focuses on product flammability as well as safety and labeling requirements associated with the products they sell to the consumer. A large number of these products are regulated by the government and ASTM standards are frequently cited in the laws. Our activities include looking at the requirements of the regulations, why does the regulation exist, how do the standards interface with the regulation, and how to design products that meet the standards. |
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Apart from using standards, are there advantages to participating in standards development? |
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Yes, there are several advantages to participating in the process. First, your company can have direct impact on the type of standard being developed. You can attend meetings and provide oral comments and your ballot is a great way to provide technical comments on the merits of the standard and its performance criteria. Second, if you have a new product introduction and it meets the standard, you have greater marketing leverage for your product. Third, by attending committee meetings regularly you learn about any new advances in your subject area from the other experts or by attending educational symposiums sponsored by the committees. Fourth, through the normal course of developing consensus you are able to learn about and understand comments and negatives submitted in the balloting process. This provides you with a greater awareness of your competitors and what they are doing, (e.g. improving existing products or developing new products). Fifth, by participating in round robin evaluations of a standard you can assess how your product rates relative to your competitors'. And sixth, you're informed much earlier in the timeline about any impending changes to standards or potential new regulations based on news, proposals, and ideas discussed at the meetings. |
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What are some of your favorite aspects of your job? |
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Meeting a wide range of people and helping my clients understand what goes in to making a product safe and how to achieve it through product design are particularly enjoyable parts of my work. |
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Are there advantages that you can identify that result from having an understanding of standards? |
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I think this question can be answered from two different perspectives: understanding the standard versus understanding the standardization process. Knowledge in both of these areas helps me professionally. Understanding the details of a specific standard and how products are tested with it provides me with information to assess the level of safety of a particular product, the limitations of the product, and how to appropriately apply the standard. That information is helpful when I guide a client through a risk assessment to determine a product's potential liability. Ultimately this helps them make wise choices about the product's design. Understanding the standards development process is helpful to my clients as I can advise them on how to participate in the process, how to influence the development of the standard, and how to estimate the potential timing of an impending standard or regulation. |
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Are there any words of wisdom that you can offer to professionals starting out in your field? |
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My recommendation is get involved in standards development as early as possible in your career for a number of reasons. First, you will establish your professional credibility at an earlier stage in your career because you will have a better insight as to how standards are developed as well as an understanding of technical reasoning and data used to support the standards. Second, some of the most respected members of committees are those who have been involved in the industry and standards development committees for decades. These members are sages because of their institutional and technical knowledge about the standards and the subject matter. You can learn a great deal from them. Third, being a member of a committee for a longer period of time also provides you with greater opportunities to serve in various leadership positions and this fosters your professional development. Fourth, the industry contacts that are gained by participating in standards development activities are priceless. If you are considering a job change within your field of choice at some point in the future you will have direct contacts with other organizations.
2005
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