ISO 56001: A Guide to Accelerating Innovations in NDE

by Rick Fernandez and Ripi Singh, PhD

This article was originally published in the NDE Outlook column in the February 2024 issue of Materials Evaluation. NDE Outlook focuses on possibility thinking for NDT and NDE. Topics may include technology trends, research in progress, or calls to action. To contribute, please contact Associate Technical Editor Ripi Singh at ripi@inspiringnext.com.

The Need for Standards for Innovation Management

Innovation in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is an increasingly important contributor to the safety assurance of high-value assets and operationally critical systems. It enables asset integrity for owner operators and enhances their ability to adapt in a changing world. Novel and innovative ideas give rise to better ways of inspecting, as well as new solutions for reducing costs, generating valuable data, and improving long-term sustainability. However, innovation isn’t just having a few bright ideas. It’s about creating value and helping organizations continuously adapt and evolve. It is closely linked to the resilience of an organization, in that it helps them to understand and respond to challenging contexts, seize the opportunities that that might bring, and leverage the creativity of both its own people and those it deals with. That is the promise of NDE 4.0 in the context of ongoing digital transformation.

Since 2013, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been developing a series of standards on innovation management, the ISO 56000 series1. ISO views an innovation management system as a set of interrelated and interacting elements, aiming for the realization of value. It provides a common framework to develop and deploy innovation capabilities, evaluate performance, and achieve intended outcomes; something that the NDE community can benefit from.

What is the ISO 56000 Series?

The ISO 56000 series of standards brings best practices in innovation management to the public and can be used for the conception, development, validation, and pursuit of purposeful NDE applications. Several benefits of using ISO 56000 were discussed in Singh2 in the context of the NDE 4.0 development process, including market, cultural, and organizational. Here is the full list of published standards and a few still in the works.

As you can see, these have been in play since 2019. Up until now, all the standards released have been focused on guidance. Having gathered enough experience, TC/279 launched the development of long-awaited ISO 56001, a certifiable standard. This standard is now at the draft (DIS) stage and will likely be released by the end of 2024.

These standards are not a replacement for ISO 9001, or ISO 9712, or any of the 21 other ISO standards familiar to our industry. These standards are to help us think strategically about the future and work toward that future, reducing anxiety and wasted effort.

Graphic depicting the overall schematic of ISO 56001.

How Will ISO/DIS 56001:2024 Help the NDT Industry?

ISO 56001 adds a new dimension to all the detailed guidance published so far in ISO 56002 to 56008. It takes users and sponsors from guidance level to requirements level.

ISO 56001 specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an innovation management system when an organization needs to develop and demonstrate its capability to effectively manage innovation activities to achieve sustained success; or aims to enhance its innovation performance through the realization of value for users, customers, and other interested parties. It will help industry innovate for new NDT equipment, new NDE processes, digitalization of inspection and decision-making activities, new training modes and platforms, new business models around data monetization, and maybe new ways of engaging across the NDE ecosystem.

The document refers to eight highly relevant innovation management principles, published earlier in ISO 56000: (a) realization of value, (b) future-focused leaders, (c) strategic direction, (d) culture, (e) exploiting insights, (f) managing uncertainty, (g) adaptability, and (h) systems approach. Considering the broad spectrum of activities in the NDT sector, all these principles are relevant, some more than others depending upon specific innovative activity or application domains.

The innovation management system provides a common framework and vocabulary to support the development of innovation capabilities, evaluate performance, and achieve intended results. This is particularly relevant in the context of the NDE 4.0 ecosystem, which will require several organizations to be in the ecosystem of data sharing and Internet of Things connectivity. Most NDT equipment OEMs can benefit from standard use of terminology and processes for creating new product-service systems.

ISO 56001 uses a high-level structure (HLS) standard for ISO documents, which incorporates scope, normative references, terms and definitions, context, leadership, planning, support, operations, performance evaluation, and improvement. Operations is at the core of the activity, covering the innovation process that guides how to (a) identify opportunities, (b) create concepts, (c) validate concepts, (d) develop solutions, and (e) deploy solutions. This structure makes for an easy implementation for NDE companies who are used to following ISO guidance.

How Can I Start Using ISO 56000 Standards?

You are welcome to review all available ISO 56000 standards and use the series as a starting point for innovation in pursuit of NDE 4.0. For further details on implementing structured innovation, the authors have several books that delve deeper into the topic34567. You may realize one or more of these benefits:

This document can also be used by:

Unlike other ISO 56000 guidance standards, this one is a requirements document and may not be relevant to early stage start-ups.

Acknowledgments

Both authors acknowledge the honor to be a part of TC 279 developing these standards since 2018. Rick Fernandez is the current chair of ANSI-Accredited US Technical Advisory Group and Ripi Singh serves as a subject matter expert on innovation.

Authors

Rick Fernandez: Chair, US TAG TC279 – ISO 56000; rick.r.fernandez@gmail.com
Ripi Singh, PhD: Inspiring Next, Cromwell, CT; ripi@inspiringnext.com

  1. ISO/DIS 56001: Innovation Management Systems Requirements. https://www.iso.org/standard/79278.html. ↩︎
  2. Singh, R. 2020. “Purpose and Pursuit of NDE 4.0.” Materials Evaluation 78 (7): 784–793. https://doi.org/10.32548/2020.me-04143. ↩︎
  3. Voehl, F., H. J. Harrington, R. Fernandez, and B. Trusko. 2018. The Framework for Innovation: A Guide to the Body of Innovation Knowledge. Productivity Press. ↩︎
  4. Harrington, H. J., and F. Voehl (eds.). 2020. Total Innovation Management Excellence (TIME): The Future of Innovation. Productivity Press. ↩︎
  5. Harrington, H. J., and F. Voehl. 2019. The Innovation Systems Cycle: Simplifying and Incorporating the Guidelines of the ISO 56002 Standard and Best Practices. Productivity Press. ↩︎
  6. Singh, R. 2022. Why Not Start with Why Not? Or How About…What If…? ↩︎
  7. Singh, R. 2022. Building a Culture of Innovation: From Serendipitous to Sustainable. ↩︎
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