One reality not often mentioned is the cost to produce a Valve standard. Since standards are created by volunteers, time spent on standards production is lost time from daily office work. Some conservative figures as to the amount of money that goes into producing a typical valve standard are:

In API, there might be 8 to 10 people on a standards workgroup. Each of these people might spend 30 to 40 hours or more over the course of one to two years in working on details and specific wording. That