Monthly Roundup: Materials Handling Equipment Standards from September 2025

Looking back at September 2025, the field of Materials Handling Equipment saw the publication of two pivotal ISO standards. Both addressed critical aspects of industrial operations—ranging from ensuring the static strength of mechanical conveyor belt fastenings to streamlining the commercial specifications for complex drilling and foundation machinery. For professionals hoping to catch up on the latest developments and maintain compliance, this retrospective offers a comprehensive guide to the month's key publications, themes, and their potential industry impact.

Business leaders, quality managers, engineers, and procurement teams rely on these analyses to benchmark their operations, align with regulatory expectations, and future-proof their procurement decisions. This month's overview details how September’s standards drive harmonization, improve safety and reliability, and reflect the evolving needs of modern materials handling environments.

Monthly Overview: September 2025

September 2025 marked a concise but impactful month for standardization within the Materials Handling Equipment sector. Only two new standards were released, both by ISO, yet their scope touched fundamental sub-domains: conveyor belt fastening systems and drilling/foundation machinery. This focused activity mirrored broader market trends toward:

• Improved operational safety
• Explicit technical and commercial clarity
• Upward harmonization between regional and international best practices

Compared to previous months—often characterized by a larger batch of incremental updates—September’s targeted publications signaled a sustained emphasis on foundational machinery reliability and on clarity in procurement and product specification. These standards reflect the practical demands of a sector coping with increasingly complex supply chains and stricter safety requirements.

The dual focus on static strength testing of conveyor fastenings and on standardized machinery specifications also indicates a maturity in sector guidance: moving from basic compliance toward deeper assurances in both mechanical integrity and industry-wide interoperability.

Standards Published This Month

ISO 1120:2025 – Conveyor belts – Determination of strength of mechanical fastenings for textile conveyor belts – Static test method

Conveyor belts – Determination of strength of mechanical fastenings for textile conveyor belts – Static test method

This fifth edition of ISO 1120 introduced an internationally harmonized static test method for mechanically fastened textile conveyor belts. The standard establishes precise procedures for evaluating the static strength of mechanical joints—whether employing a connecting rod or not—thereby helping quality managers and engineers eliminate assemblies with insufficient robustness.

Key features include:

• Scope: Focuses specifically on mechanical fastenings for textile conveyor belts. It excludes vulcanized joints and is not valid for light conveyor belts defined in ISO 21183-1.
• Testing Method: Specifies the apparatus, test sample preparation, conditioning, and test execution for both types of mechanical joints. The method ensures that conveyor belts in industrial, logistics, and mining environments meet a baseline of static strength before operational deployment.
• Reporting: Outlines standardized reporting to promote reliable documentation and clear audit trails.
• Revision Highlights: The 2025 edition updates normative references and revises test illustrations (notably Figure 1), reflecting advances in joint technology and test apparatus.

Organizations that manufacture, maintain, or certify textile conveyor belts are the primary stakeholders required to comply. Integrators and operators in sectors such as bulk material transport, baggage handling, and mining particularly benefit from the static strength assurance offered by this standard. Its alignment with both ISO and CEN frameworks ensures broad international applicability and smooth conformity for cross-border operations.

Key highlights:

• Measures static strength of mechanical fastenings to screen out weak joints
• Clearly differentiates between joint types (with or without connecting rods)
• Provides globally recognized methodology for strength validation

Access the full standard:View ISO 1120:2025 on iTeh Standards

ISO 11886:2025 – Drilling and foundation machinery – Soil or soil and rock mixture drilling and foundation machines – Commercial specifications

Drilling and foundation machinery – Soil or soil and rock mixture drilling and foundation machines – Commercial specifications

The second edition of ISO 11886 responded to the growing complexity and internationalization of drilling and foundation machinery procurement for civil and geotechnical engineering. Expanding upon its 2002 predecessor, the 2025 standard formalizes both technical and commercial specification requirements for a diverse suite of machinery:

• Mobile drill rigs for civil and geotechnical engineering
• Foundation equipment (e.g., piling machines)
• Diaphragm walling equipment
• Jetting, grouting, and injection equipment
• Auxiliary and interchangeable equipment relevant to the above

The standard does not cover machines designed for mining applications (such as jumbo drills or raise boring machines) nor Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) units, which are covered under ISO 21467.

Scope and Requirements:

• Defines machine types, nomenclature, and main components
• Explains operational methods for drilling, piling, walling, jetting, and soil mixing
• Specifies main dimensions, performance metrics (e.g., engine, hydraulics, mass, undercarriage), safety features, and accessories
• Details standard reporting and documentation for commercial transactions, streamlining audits and procurement comparisons
• Offers clear definitions, enhancing cross-border understanding and reducing ambiguities during tendering or contract negotiations

By bringing together global technical terms, machine characteristics, and specification templates, ISO 11886:2025 helps:

• Equipment manufacturers
• Civil engineering contractors
• Foundation specialists
• Procurement managers and consultants

ensure clear, transparent, and harmonized communication. This, in turn, reduces the risks of misinterpretation or mis-specification—a common pain-point in large infrastructure and foundation projects.

Notable revision points:

• Scope expansion to cover all drilling and foundation machinery except those used strictly for mining or HDD
• Incorporation of a technical corrigendum for enhanced clarity
• Dozens of newly harmonized definitions and updated terminology for modern machinery and operational scenarios

Key highlights:

• Unifies terminology and main specifications for diverse foundation machinery
• Supports clear comparison, tendering, and procurement processes globally
• Reduces specification risks and miscommunication in multinational projects

Access the full standard:View ISO 11886:2025 on iTeh Standards

Common Themes and Industry Trends

Analyzing September 2025’s standards activity reveals several consistent themes and trends in Materials Handling Equipment:

• Safety and Reliability: Both standards emphasize test-based verification and clear documentation as prerequisites for quality assurance and operational safety. The sector is maturing toward risk-based design and procurement, with traceable evidence of compliance.
• International Harmonization: The interplay between ISO and regional bodies (notably CEN), and expanded scopes, reflect efforts to bridge regional standards gaps—vital for multinational operations and cross-border infrastructure development.
• Terminology and Specification Clarity: The increasing complexity of both equipment and supply chains means unambiguous specification and reporting are more important than ever. Updated definitions empower more transparent transactions and more effective regulatory scrutiny.
• Segment Focus: The standards’ focus areas—conveyor belt integrity and drilling/foundation machinery specification—mirror ongoing industry challenges: aging infrastructure, complex mechanization, and the need for clear, defensible procurement and maintenance practices.

This pattern indicates that the sector’s standards development is prioritizing foundational infrastructure (e.g., bulk material transport, civil engineering) with a premium on modular, testable, and documentable systems and components.

Compliance and Implementation Considerations

For organizations impacted by these September 2025 standards, practical steps for compliance and best practice alignment include:

1. Gap Assessment:

   • Conduct a gap analysis comparing current testing and documentation procedures with requirements in ISO 1120:2025.
   • For project bids or procurement involving foundation machinery, update all commercial specification templates and contract attachments to reference ISO 11886:2025 terminology and data requirements.

2. Personnel Training:

   • Train technical staff, quality controllers, and procurement officers on new methods, terminologies, and test/reporting procedures. Consider supplier workshops to promote upstream compliance.

3. Documentation Updates:

   • Revise quality manuals, maintenance documentation, and product data sheets to incorporate updated reporting structures and definitions.
   • For auditing purposes, ensure all test results and machinery specifications are traceable and clearly reference the standard’s clauses and definitions.

4. Timeline Management:

   • Standards typically allow for transition periods. Engage with certification bodies and stakeholders to determine enforceability dates and rollout schedules.

5. Supplier Engagement:

   • Communicate expectations to supply chain partners and require conformance certificates or updated documentation as part of contract deliverables.

Resources for getting started:

• Download full standards documentation from iTeh Standards for organization-wide access
• Organize peer-learning sessions or consult professional associations specializing in conveyor technology, civil engineering, and foundation work
• Engage with technical bodies or your national standards organizations for additional training and technical Q&A

Conclusion: Key Takeaways from September 2025

The two key standards published in September 2025 for the Materials Handling Equipment sector provide a robust blueprint for improved reliability, safety, and harmonization across industrial, civil, and infrastructure domains:

• ISO 1120:2025 delivers a clear, repeatable method for testing the static strength of conveyor belt mechanical fastenings—an indispensable tool for risk mitigation in heavy transport and material handling.
• ISO 11886:2025 establishes a comprehensive, internationally recognized framework for specifying, comparing, and documenting drilling and foundation machinery, ensuring that buyers and suppliers worldwide speak a common technical language.

For industry professionals, the enduring value lies in:

• Catching up on major guidance updates for foundational infrastructure safety and equipment specification
• Minimizing the risk of non-compliance or procurement errors
• Creating defensible, audit-ready documentation for both internal and regulatory purposes

Staying current with such standards is not just good practice—it is a strategic imperative for quality, safety, and global competitiveness. Explore in-depth details and download the full texts via iTeh Standards to ensure your organization is equipped for both today’s demands and tomorrow’s challenges.