Verification of Need

Who decides what the new GF-5 specification should cover?

The Notification of Potential Need published by ILSAC is reviewed by the ILSAC/OIL committee.  The ILSAC/OIL Committee is comprised of ILSAC representatives (Automobile OEMs) and OIL members, oil marketers (API Lubricants Committe) and additive companies (ACC PAPTG).  After review and discussion of the Needs Statement, consensus must be reached, which is determined by a vote.

This discussion/negotiation takes place in the ILSAC/Oil committee. It is necessary for all involved to thoroughly understand and agree on the performance upgrade.  Consensus is determined by a voice vote and then confirmed by a paper or electronic ballot.  
Automobile OEMs (ILSAC members) provide expertise on the necessary hardware developments while oil marketers and additive companies (OIL members) work together to produce the blended oil required to support the new hardware.

Once the ILSAC/OIL committee has determined what the new specification should cover, the test development process can begin and the process is handed off to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) teams for test development.

These steps are usually done sequentially.  However, in cases that involve a long test development time frame, (two years) the test development step can be done in parallel to the verification of needs step.