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Jayakumar Gopalakrishnan
Manager, Technical Resourses
Global Resources Management Group
Madras, India
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“Standards form the backbone of the quality assessment
of the textile business, and a thorough understanding of and constant updating is required to be able to climb the ladder of success in this field.” |
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Who is your current employer and what is your current position? |
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I am the manager of technical resources for the Global Resources Management Group, in Madras, India. |
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Where did you obtain your undergraduate/ graduate degree(s) and in what fields? |
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I studied textiles in India and in the United Kingdom. |
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When and why did you become involved in ASTM International? |
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I joined ASTM International in 1997. |
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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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I am a member of ASTM Committee D13 on Textiles, but I am not a committee officer. |
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How do you apply ASTM standards in your work? |
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We use ASTM standards to test the quality of textile products, and I also teach people how to use ASTM test methods. |
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Apart from using standards, are there advantages to participating in standards development? |
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Yes; because India is a manufacturing country, I can voice the views of the manufacturing community to committees whenever there are proposals for new standards or amendments to old standards. I can also ask for editorial changes. For example, when technical words that are normally used in the USA but not in India are included in a standard, I request that an international synonym be used instead. |
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What are some of your favorite aspects of your job? |
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I particularly enjoy meeting people and educating them. It brings me a lot of happiness and satisfaction when people understand hitherto difficult parts of a test method or come to know the reason behind a test being conducted on a textile product. |
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Are there advantages that you can identify that result from having an understanding of standards? |
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Yes, an understanding of standards gives a better perspective of the quality aspects of the materials, and the philosophy behind why such methods are used. |
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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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Never stop reading, especially standards. Standards form the backbone of the quality assessment of the textile business, and a thorough understanding of and constant updating is required to be able to climb the ladder of success in this field.
2006
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