The PDS project sets out to create a shared framework for product data management, ensuring manufacturers and distributors can exchange consistent, high-quality information. This includes standardizing how critical product attributes such as dimensions, materials, finishes, descriptions, universal product codes, and performance data are formatted, maintained, and integrated into business systems.

The standard is being developed in collaboration with more than 30 manufacturers and distributors, supported by ASA’s Embracing the Future Strategic Action Council. The initiative is a response to members’ growing frustration with inconsistent spreadsheets, data misinterpretation, and time-consuming, manual cleanup that slows down digital transformation efforts, the press release said.

“Listening to our members, ASA realized the need for a data standard to make it faster and easier for distributors and manufacturers to get product info from the source to the site in a useful form,” said Jeremy Fuller, purchasing manager of Houston-based Texas Plumbing Supply and a key driver of the project, which has featured contributions from about 50 volunteer leaders across ASA-member companies. “In short, we look at every column of data to see if it's needed, relevant, and in the right format for every link in the distribution chain.”

With a standardized format in place, product data can move seamlessly from supplier to distributor to end user — reducing order errors, streamlining operations, enhancing inventory management, and improving the customer experience.

“This standard helps create clarity across the board,” said PJ O’Neill, director of product information at Beaumont, Texas-based Coburn Supply, and another member of the product data standardization task group. “It’s the type of infrastructure our industry has needed for years.”

The PDS will cover a wide range of stockkeeping units (SKUs) with consistent, validated attribute definitions.

The standard is available in the following product categories: Full-line plumbing, water heaters, pipe, tubing and related components, tools, and rough plumbing accessories. Each category will have tailored attributes and formatting rules. Companies will be able to access official documentation and sample column guides directly from the ASA website.

As more organizations adopt the standard, its positive impact will grow exponentially —helping the industry collectively move faster and smarter, ASA’s press release said.

ASA is leading the project with active involvement from its member task groups, composed of experts in product data, technology, distribution, and manufacturing. ASA’s Innovation & Technology team, led by ASA’s manager of innovation and technology Nils Swenson, is managing the development, coordination, and rollout of the standard.

The standard is being built with both flexibility and practicality in mind, recognizing the diversity of systems and data maturity levels across the industry, ASA’s press release said.

The standard is now available at: https://www.asa.net/Industry-Standards/Product-Data-Standard.

To get started:

• Manufacturers: Share product data with distributor customers using the new format.

• Distributors: Ask your manufacturers to provide data using the new standard.

• Data teams: Review the standard documentation and integrate into your internal systems.

• Leaders: Encourage adoption across your network.

ASA will continue to host webinars, task group meetings, and live sessions to support adoption. In addition, ASA will release updates and share implementation resources.

“This is more than a technical standard — it’s a long-overdue solution to a challenge nearly every company in our industry faces,” ASA’s Swenson said. “By adopting a unified approach, we can all spend less time formatting spreadsheets and more time serving customers.”