All Features

Harish Jose
I’m looking at a topic in statistics. I’ve had a lot of feedback on one of my earlier posts on OC curves and how one can use them to generate a reliability/confidence statement based on sample size (n), and rejects (c). I provided an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the reliability/confidence…

Nellie Wartoft
Diverse teams are an essential asset to any business. According to a Forbes article, “Companies with a diverse workforce are 35 percent more likely to experience greater financial returns than their non-diverse counterparts.” This is because heterogeneous teams can provide greater insight into a…

Martin Cottam
It’s tempting to attribute the increased profile now given to occupational health and safety (OH&S) to the Covid-19 pandemic. But while in many organizations the pandemic shone a spotlight on OH&S management, there are other issues that will keep OH&S at the fore throughout the next…
(SupplyOne: Newtown Square, PA) -- SupplyOne Inc., the largest independent supplier of custom corrugated and other value-added packaging products, equipment, and services in the U.S., offers secondary, end-of-line packaging solutions to meet new package configurations required by changing demands…
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Oak Ridge, TN) -- More than 100 years ago, the hydropower industry, which today generates 32 percent of all U.S. renewable energy, was built using traditional manufacturing processes. But surging energy demand, higher material costs, and supply chain hurdles have led…
(Key Technology: Walla Walla, WA) -- Key Technology, a member of the Duravant family of operating companies, has introduced its new integrated hyperspectral sorting system for chilled bacon bits. As the world’s only sorter that can combine near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral detection with color…

Alonso Diaz, Maria DiBari
The pandemic has sparked a shift in many business models around the world, especially in the MedTech industry. The old manual labor model has sharply transitioned into businesses leaning on digitization and remote working models to cut costs, innovate, discover new drugs, enhance clinical trials,…

Emily Newton
It’s increasingly common for today’s warehouse managers to pursue robotic material-handling solutions. That approach can boost productivity, reduce injury rates, and enable companies to adjust to changing demands. However, before company decision-makers choose what kind of robots they want, they…
(Sunnen: St. Louis) -- Hendrick Motorsports has named Sunnen Products Co. its official honing equipment partner as it pursues its record-extending 15th NASCAR Cup Series championship. The partnership puts the new Sunnen SV series honing machine in the Hendrick engine operation alongside numerous…
(DWFritz Metrology: Wilsonville, OR) -- DWFritz Metrology, a leading global provider of high-precision inspection and metrology solutions for advanced manufacturing, held a demonstration of new capabilities on the ZeroTouch Rotational Metrology Platform at the 2023 Control Show in Stuttgart,…

Megan Wallin-Kerth
The ability to observe relationships, patterns, and environment may be deemed a “soft” skill, but there’s plenty of hard data supporting the power of observation in the workplace. After all, observation is the sometimes overlooked first step in the scientific method: Make an observation, and from…

Scott Knoche
A very popular version of the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is the portable CMM “arm,” not to be confused with the “robotic arm” or simply, robot—as it is called in the factory automation world. Robots are motorized, machine-driven devices that have tube segments connected by articulating…
(East Coast Metrology: Wixom, MI) -- East Coast Metrology (ECM), a division of In-Place Machining Co., is pleased to announce that Gary Confalone is the recipient of the 2023 ASQ Hromi Medal.
Each year the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Hromi Medal committee recognizes individuals who have…
(Mitutoyo: Aurora, IL) -- Mitutoyo America Corp. has announced an expanded trade-in trade-up program for Mitutoyo coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), vision measuring systems, and form-measuring systems.
The Mitutoyo trade-in trade-up program is an opportunity to upgrade to new, technologically…
(API: Rockville, MD) -- Accurate paper production depends on proper alignment, from calendar stacks to press rolls to unwind stands, felt stretches, and much more. Paper mills traditionally bear these alignment costs in one of three ways: 1) They can contract optical alignment services from a…

Sharon McDougall
Although the coronavirus pandemic changed the working lives of employees around the world, closing workplaces and transforming dining tables into professional workstations, it also gave employees a chance to time out and recharge from the hustle and bustle associated with office working.
The…

Tami Trout
It’s time for a digital workforce transformation. Modern manufacturers must juggle evolving expectations for workplace flexibility, pay, career paths, and benefits. They also have to take into account the changes in the ways employees learn and access information. The most obvious example of this…
(Nikon: Tokyo) -- Nikon Corp. is pleased to announce the launch of the large-volume high-performance X-ray and CT Systems VOXLS 40 C 450. This product realizes nondestructive inspection of various large and small components by using X-ray and CT (computed tomography scan) to implement high-accuracy…
(Instron: Pianezza, Italy) -- With its MFi5 and MFi7, Instron presents a new generation of melt index testers for tasks ranging from monitoring incoming materials to product development and process control. The compact, manually operated MFi5 is ideal for fast and reliable measurements thanks to…

Mark Hembree
Now that AI is an acronym that doesn’t really need to be spelled out (artificial intelligence, just in case you’ve been off the planet the last couple of years), we are hearing and understanding more about its various applications and capabilities.
I’m not an early adapter, but I do recall midway…

Bryan Christiansen
Benjamin Franklin said, “... in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” If you work in maintenance, you know that equipment failure is also on that list.
As inevitable as equipment failures are, by paying close attention to mean time to recovery (MTTR), you can make…

Verdi Ogewell
Which product life cycle management systems lead the market in terms of discrete manufacturing? As always, this question is as topical as it is controversial—but that doesn’t stop industry analysts from trying to position these developers against each other.
One of the more prominent and ambitious…
(BIPM: Saint-Cloud, France) -- May 20, 2023, is World Metrology Day, commemorating the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875. This treaty provides the basis for a worldwide coherent measurement system that underpins scientific discovery and innovation, industrial manufacturing…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a paper outlining its vision and strategy for a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), a key component of the research and development program established by…
(NIMS: Fairfax, VA) -- The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) has announced a new suite of Smart Standards for various job roles in various sectors of manufacturing. These standards are a starting point for any employer and educator developing or evaluating training in these…