All Features
ISO
Editor's note: The following interview with ANSI CEO, Joe Bhatia, first appeared in the June 2012 edition of ISO Focus+ magazine and is reproduced with the kind permission of ISO Central Secretariat.
On Sept. 17–22, 2012, the United States will play host to the world’s standardization community as…
Renishaw
(Renishaw: New Mills, UK) -- On June 27, 2012, Renishaw PLC was presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2012 by Dame Janet Trotter, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. This is Renishaw’s 15th Queen’s Award since its formation in 1973, and was granted in the Innovations category…
James O. Pearson
In retrospect it was easy to see that the strategic planning process for new products was flawed. What began as a simple customer-service escalation due to product quality issues for Strategic Network and Broadband Co. (SNB) exposed a major corporate process problem that affected revenue and…
Donald J. Wheeler
In a class last month I was asked to explain a number that occurs in some measurement system evaluations and which is known as the precision to tolerance ratio (P/T ratio). As I will show in this column, it turns out to be related to the capability ratio.
We will need some notation in what follows…
Certified Comparator Products
(CCP: Beavercreek, OH) -- Certified Comparator Products (CCP), a division of Quality Vision International Inc. (QVI), has introduction of the CC-16L optical comparator. The CC-16L features a generous measuring range, high payload, two TruLight all-LED light sources, and a choice of two highly…
Matthew E. May
Every day, we are bombarded with messages about how to get things done. We hear a lot less, though, about how to get things right. Most waste in business operations come not from doing the right work inefficiently, but simply doing the wrong work in the first place.
Here are three books that should…
Olympus
(Olympus: Center Valley, PA) -- Olympus has premiered its IX3 line of inverted research microscopes, three systems that offer researchers flexibility to customize their microscopes. The systems offer precision, stability, and optical performance to meet challenging quantitative measurement…
BuildIT
(Build!IT: Montreal, Quebac, Canada) -- Build!IT Desktop is a CAD-to-part inspection software that enables quick and easy dimensional verification of manufactured parts and assemblies. Build!IT’s advanced analysis and reporting capabilities combine measurement data from multiple sources to produce…
Productivity Press
(Productivity Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Traditional accounting systems have become inadequate for today’s global manufacturing environment. They are too complex and too focused on past performance. As manufacturing techniques change and become less labor intensive, accounting methods must also…
VIEW Micro-Metrology
(VIEW Micro-Metrology: Phoenix) -- VIEW Micro-Metrology, a division of Quality Vision International (QVI), announces a new benchtop measurement system, the Benchmark 250-S. Benchmark 250-S delivers high performance and reliability to satisfy the unique demands of in-process micro-measurements.
The…
KOTEM
(KOTEM: Rochester, NY) -- KOTEM, a developer of data-fitting and GD&T evaluation software for industrial measurement, has released SmartProfile 2.0, the all-new version of its popular geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) evaluation software.
SmartProfile provides fast, accurate…
RAM Optical Instrumentation Inc.
(RAM: Rochester, NY) -- RAM Optical Instrumentation, a designer and manufacturer of video inspection solutions and a division of Quality Vision International Inc. (QVI), has developed a full-function benchtop digital measuring machine, the QVI SNAP. The SNAP represents a breakthrough in ease of use…
The Joint Commission
(Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare: Oakbrook Terrace, IL) -- An estimated 80 percent of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers when patients are transferred or handed off. In addition to patient harm, defective hand-offs can lead to delays in treatment…
AIAG
(AIAG: Southfield, MI) -- AIAG, a nonprofit, member-supported organization focused on collaboration with a wide range of manufacturing companies and service providers, has joined the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as an Organizational Stakeholder, formalizing its commitment to promoting…
Jossey-Bass
(Jossey-Bass: Hoboken, NJ) -- In fast-changing business environments, firms must adapt their strategies and innovate to remain at the top. But many successful firms fail to do so. Instead, they succumb to inertia, hesitate, or stick blindly to their old strategies, until it is too late. Strategic…
Lean Enterprise Institute
(LEI: Cambridge, MA) -- The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute is offering a comprehensive series of lean management workshops for Sept. 18–20, 2012, in Indianapolis. The sessions will address the technical as well as the “people” or social aspects of lean manufacturing and lean service…
Bill Kalmar
This is the time of year for graduations, weddings, and outdoor musical concerts. And of course, tomorrow many of us will be at a local park, picnic dinners spread out on a blanket beneath the stars waiting for the July 4th fireworks.
Now I realize I will not be endearing myself to all the dog…
Mohan Nair
It’s been a grueling five years with the bailouts, rampant unemployment, declining home values, and rising prices, which have manifested as insecurity, fear, and stress, and for those who are employed—overwork. Employees have been harassed into productivity for so long they’re either running on…
Mark R. Hamel
The question, “Why do you ask?” is typically posed in response to an inquiry that is deemed a bit nosey. It’s actually more of a statement... along the lines of, “Mind your own business!”
But for the purpose of this article, it really is a question—one of, and for, the lean leader’s self-…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Imagine smart tools or robotic delivery systems that instantaneously know where they are on an ever-changing shop floor, a system that could automatically orient a CAD model of an object on the shop floor to the local coordinate system without the use of targets or human intervention. Such tools…
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) will offer a two-day, instructor-led workshop on design for manufacturing and design for assembly. The course will be held Oct. 4–5, 2012, in Glendale, California, at the Embassy Suites. Virtual attendance will be available via…
Fabricating.com
(Fabricating Partners: Hoboken, NJ) -- Fabricating Partners Inc. has launched Fabricating.com, an online request for quote (RFQ) marketplace designed to help U.S. buyers build U.S. supplier networks and manufacture made-to-order parts. The site’s SourceNow platform presents easy-to-use…
Exact Metrology
(Exact Metrology: Cincinnati) -- For years, engineers have anticipated the day when a full-color 3-D scanner can be picked up, plugged into a laptop computer, and ready to use. The Eva 3D Scanner from Artec now offers this.
Because Eva eliminates any need for marking or calibration, you’ve got a…
Konica Minolta Sensing Americas Inc.
(Konica Minolta: Ramsey, NJ) -- We eat first with our eyes, as the saying goes. It’s no surprise, then, that the food industry spends countless hours creating the ideal shades that we will see when we open a package.
Everyone from the chefs to the marketing department want the food to look…
Creaform Inc.
(Creaform: Lévis, Québec, Canada) -- Creaform, a leader in portable 3-D optical measurement technologies and 3-D engineering services, and Faurecia Autositze GmbH are working together on a software solution for the measurements and positioning of dummies. In the future, this software solution…
