ASTM Reorganizes Standards Body to Cover AI, Robotics, and 3D Printing

ASTM International has restructured its standards operations, replacing its Advanced Manufacturing Division with a Critical and Emerging Technologies Division. The new group covers additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, quantum technology, biotechnology, and commercial space, all under a single organizational umbrella.

The move is designed to speed up standardization where technologies intersect. AI does not develop in isolation from manufacturing equipment, and semiconductor advances often dictate what robotics and 3D printers can do. ASTM says it will engage at those intersection points rather than chasing shifting national lists of strategically important technologies.

The new division builds on work already done in advanced manufacturing, where ASTM helped establish globally adopted frameworks for 3D printing alongside international partners. That model is now being scaled to other emerging fields.

A key program backing the division is ASCET, the Advancing Standardization for Critical and Emerging Technologies initiative, which received $15 million from NIST in October 2024. ASCET focuses on pre-standardization work, workforce development, and certification programs before industry practices become locked in.

ASTM President Andy Kireta says the division reflects a shift from simply writing standards to delivering full standards solutions across technologies that reshape the global economy. The group is already active in roughly 10 ASTM committees and works across 25 countries.

For the additive manufacturing community, the reorganization means standards development for 3D printing stays central to ASTM's mission while gaining closer coordination with the AI and robotics standards that increasingly govern factory automation. A new technical committee on AI in Manufacturing Systems was formed during 2026 to tackle terminology, data integrity, interoperability, and cybersecurity in automated production environments.