All Features
Geomagic
Geomagic, a developer and global provider of 3-D software for capturing, creating, and inspecting digital models of physical objects, has acquired Sensable Technology Inc.’s 3-D design and haptics businesses. Sensable Technology, of Wilmington, Massachusetts, is a leading developer of volumetric…
Kevin Rudy
If you like baseball pitching statistics, then you’ve loved the month of June. On the first of the month, Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history. Then a week later, the Seattle Mariners used six different pitchers to do the same thing, which tied the Major League Baseball record…
Plex Systems Inc.
(Plex: Auburn Hills, MI) -- Plex Systems Inc., provider of Plex Online, a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for manufacturers, has announced its electronics manufacturing and thought leadership webinar, “Achieving Operational Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing,” which will take…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
Major airlines are doing a better job of satisfying their passengers this year, according to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). At 67 (on a scale of zero to 100), customer satisfaction with the airline industry matches its best level in a decade, but there is…
Bill Kalmar
Every now and then an unexpected encounter with an unknown person can affect your thought processes and make you rethink your own mortality. Such an incident occurred several weeks ago at a Panera Bread store in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It was on this day that my grandson,…
IndustryPigeon
(IndustryPigeon: Wilmington, NC) -- IndustryPigeon Inc. has launched IndustryPigeon.com, a social trade network designed for industrial trade professionals. The new platform integrates networking and collaboration tools with practical business applications to connect people in trade communities and…
Rip Stauffer
I recently closed the doors of my own consulting company on the prairie in Minnesota and headed back into the wild, wacky, wonderful world of larger consulting groups, joining a group in Northern Virginia. One of the consequences of that transition was that I was unable to meet a couple of speaking…
FARO
(FARO: Lake Mary, FL) -- FARO Technologies Inc., a global source for 3-D measurement technology, has released CAM2 Gage 2.2. It is the latest software update for the company’s leading lines of portable measurement solutions, the FaroArm and FARO Gage. New features such as enhanced QuickTools,…
API Services
This past month API Services and New River Kinematics teamed up for a historic preservation project at St. Luke’s Church and Museum in Smithfield, Virginia. Together, they provided a full building scan and collected point cloud data to keep records for the church and its ongoing restoration.
For…
CMSC
(CMSC: Benbrook, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS), the eminent membership association for measurement professionals, is hosting its third large-scale, interactive measurement study, as well as two other events at the 28th annual Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC), July 16–…
ADCOLE Corp.
(ADCOLE: Marlborough, MA) -- A gauge that provides submicron accuracy, with fast unattended cycle times, for the manufacture and quality control of critical rotating components, is available from ADCOLE Corp., designer and manufacturer of high-accuracy measurement machines and components.
The…
Jossey-Bass
(Jossey-Bass: San Francisco) -- The Pin Drop Principle: Captivate, Influence, and Communicate Better Using the Time-Tested Methods of Professional Performers, by David Lewis and G. Riley Mills (Jossey-Bass, 2012) is a step-by-step master class for anyone wishing to become a more confident and…
Siemens PLM Software
(Siemens: Plano, TX) -- Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a global provider of product life-cycle management (PLM) software and services, has introduced the Insight XT design data management solution, used to manage Solid Edge software CAD files…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and partner organizations of the federal interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO) are sponsoring the second in a series of regional public workshops to gather ideas and suggestions on the…
MIT News
In today’s manufacturing plants, the division of labor between humans and robots is quite clear: Large, automated robots are typically cordoned off in metal cages, manipulating heavy machinery and performing repetitive tasks, while humans work in less hazardous areas on jobs requiring finer detail…
IBM
The Charleston Police Department in South Carolina is working with IBM to assist the city’s more than 400 police officers to more accurately evaluate and forecast crime patterns. The department is using predictive analytics software to better allocate its resources and identify criminal hot spots…
Four-dimensional computed tomography, or 4-D CT, is the latest development in the realm of industrial X-ray inspection for the nondestructive testing industry. In the simplest of terms, 4-D CT is a 3-D X-ray computed tomography process that captures movement over a period of time.
Like most other…
Stewart Anderson
The production and provision of any product or service requires many activities to be performed. The pattern of activities that a firm adopts to create and deliver value to customers is commonly called the value chain (or value stream). A key issue in competitive strategy is how to organize a value…
Akhilesh Gulati
An optimist would say a glass is half-full, while a pessimist would say it’s half-empty. Someone with a mind for physics would say, “The volume of this cylinder is equally composed of a colorless, odorless liquid and a colorless, odorless gas. Thus, the cylinder is neither full nor empty.”
With…
GBMP
(GBMP: Boston, MA) -- The Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership (GBMP), educational partner of The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, has released the agenda for the 8th annual Northeast Shingo Prize Conference. This year’s theme is “Learning to Share,” emphasizing continuous improvement…
InfinityQS
(InfinityQS: Chantilly, VA) -- InfinityQS International Inc., a leading provider of real-time quality control software solutions, has announced that its 6th annual user conference, Infusion 2012, will be held Sept. 23-26, 2012, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Denver. The premier, three-day event will…
FDA
(FDA: Washington, D.C.) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a long history of working with patients and patient advocates, beginning with the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Its interactions with patient groups have evolved since then, and the agency now works with patients representing a…
MoreSteam.com
(MoreSteam: Columbus, OH) -- On Wed., June 20, 2012, MoreSteam.com, a global provider of online lean Six Sigma training and blended learning technology, will sponsor the Houston Lean Six Sigma Professionals (HLSSP) first roundtable discussion event at the Westin Oaks in Houston, Texas from 5:30–7 p…
Dynamic Intelligent Solutions
(DIS: Clinton Township, MI) -- Dynamic Intelligent Solutions (DIS) recently outfitted an automotive customer’s paint bake oven with ChamberCam, allowing the customer to obtain optical 3-D thermal expansion and displacement data of an aluminum roof while attached to a full-body vehicle during the…
NIST
A powerful color-based imaging technique is making the jump from remote sensing to the operating room—and a team of scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken steps to ensure it performs as well when discerning oxygen-depleted tissues and cancer cells in the…
