All Features
Basis Software Inc.
(Basis Software: Colorado Springs, CO) -- Basis Software Inc., announced the release of the Surphaser Model 50HS laser scanner, the first release in an upcoming line of competitively priced long-range scanning products.
The Surphaser Model 50HSX is an entry level version of the popular ER_100HSX…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon Metrology: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Metrology has announced the next generation of the ROMER Absolute Arm. The enhanced portable measuring arm features optimized ergonomics, a new wrist design, and greater stability to create a better user experience while further reducing operator…
Laser trackers and the software that controls them have revolutionized the way metrology data have been taken. With software and hardware advances have come new and better ways to take measurements. One of these advances in metrology software is the ability to measure the angle normal to a mirrored…
NIST
Microscopes don’t exactly lie, but their limitations affect the truths they can tell. For example, scanning electron microscopes simply can’t see materials that don’t conduct electricity very well, and their high energies can actually damage some types of samples.
In an effort to extract a little…
Kelly Kuchinski
Editor’s note: A webinar on this topic will held on May 29, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific. Register here.
Food and beverage manufacturers have seen a considerable number of changes over the last decade. Mergers and acquisitions have expanded the footprint of many food and beverage…
The W. Edwards Deming Institute
“One requirement for innovation is faith that there will be a future. Innovation, the foundation of the future, cannot thrive unless the top management has declared unshakable commitment to quality and productivity.”—W. Edwards Deming
(W. Edwards Deming Institute: Washington, D.C.) -- The W.…
In 1927, my grandfather, A. N. Brunson, was 22 years old and repairing surveying instruments. That was the year he established Brunson Instrument Company in the back room of a map business in downtown Kansas City. When the Great Depression came along, he was fortunate to keep very busy. Because no…
Belinda Jones
M
etrologists employ numerous portable 3D metrology devices and techniques to acquire coordinate data to measure a manufactured article or assembly. There are many variables induced by an operator that can dramatically influence data collection. Although measurement equipment is calibrated to…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Subscription TV and Internet service providers (ISPs) sink to the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index in its annual measure of communications industries. According to the latest ACSI results, ISPs drop 3.1% to an ACSI score of 63 on a 100-point scale, while…
CRC Press
(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Value proposition, an old concept, is taking on new significance in today’s innovation-driven environment. Business focus has shifted from developing many creative ideas to developing only those that will successfully flow through the product cycle and fulfill a…
U.S. Air Force
The 2nd Maintenance Squadron’s Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory (PMEL) at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier, Louisiana, calibrates and maintains an inventory of more than 6,700 pieces of equipment for Team Barksdale. With countless tools and test equipment used by ground crews every…
Automated Precision Inc.
Hexapods: The word sounds alien, but we see them every day. A hexapod (“hexa” is the Greek word for six; “pod” is Greek for foot) is simply a spatial motion machine with six driving elements. They can be seen at fairgrounds, as the motor for carnival rides, or on flight simulators for pilot…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
“Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.”—Galileo Galilei
It’s all well and good to say that metrology “includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement,” but that doesn’t adequately express its gestalt, which I think even metrologists would agree is hard to…
Brian Maskell
Many companies calculate product profitability by subtracting a standard cost from the price and calling it a margin. But this calculated margin does not tell you how much money you are making. It tells you almost nothing about profit because the standard cost is made up from a lot of tenuous…
Donald J. Wheeler
Who could ever be against having good measurements? Good measurements are like apple pie and motherhood. Since we all want good measurements, it sounds reasonable when people are told to check out the quality of their measurement system before doing an experiment or putting their data on a process…
Cathy Hayat
Air travel has long been considered the safest form of transportation. Statistically speaking, the average American is safer in an airplane than an automobile. Though this is reassuring, the industry is relentlessly pursuing ways to improve air travel safety. One such improvement is the continued…
Mike Richman
World Metrology Week is a good time to think about how the science of test and measurement affects our lives. From reducing the time and cost of large-volume manufacturing and assembly to helping ensure the safety and reliability of aircraft, automobiles, and sea vessels, portable coordinate…
inTEST Thermal Solutions
(inTEST Thermal: Mansfield, MA) -- A new control platform, the TS Controller, for Sigma Systems’ cryogenically and mechanically cooled thermal chambers and plates has been introduced by inTEST Thermal. Burn-in and testing of components, sensors, and PCBs typically involves temperature cycling from…
Mark Schmit
ISO 9001 has been the quality management standard, with almost a million businesses certified around the world. It has been through many revisions, in 1994, 2000, and 2008, but the 2015 revision has an added element to consider—risk.
ISO international standards help to ensure that products and…
Brenda Percy
D
ocument control is one of the most commonly used QMS applications in companies of any industry today. It ensures that your documents are kept up to date and controlled, and it lets you automatically route your documents from review to approval to distribution.
The QMS’s document control…
The Un-Comfort Zone With Robert Wilson
In today’s highly competitive business climate, creativity can no longer be limited to artists and inventors. The marketplace is changing rapidly, and in the words of Intel Chairman, Andrew Grove, companies must “adapt or die!” Every organization needs people—at every level—who can bring new…
ISO
Governments—local or otherwise—are under increasing pressure around the world to provide results that matter to the public, often within severe resource constraints. Now they are taking pointers from the private sector by using ISO 9001 for quality management to provide efficient and reliable…
Stanley Przybylinski
A widely cited prediction holds that by 2020 “upwards of 50 billion devices” will be connected to the Internet. And that number of connected devices, massive as it may be, will be dwarfed by a far larger number of connected sensors. At a modest 20 sensors per device, the connections tally…
Annette Franz
Someone asked me recently about the percentage of revenue that customer-focused companies spend on their voice of the customer (VOC) initiatives. Although they wanted some guidance on what to spend on a VOC solution, I thought it was a fair question but one for which I don’t have the answer. That…
Sandia National Laboratories
As hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles roll out in increasing numbers, so must the infrastructure that fuels them. To this end, a new project launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and led by Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work in support of…
