All Features
Mark Hembree
Without raising false alarms, it’s fair to say that password insecurity is a problem that lives near you and is worthy of your attention.
In its article, “139 password statistics to help you stay safe in 2023,” digital security firm Norton cites a report by password manager LastPass that more than…
Chris Caldwell
The quest to optimize equipment efficiency, ensure consistent quality, and lower operational costs while empowering a stronger workforce continues to permeate the industrial landscape. While challenges persist, the transformative potential that high-performance robotic automation is bringing to…
Donald J. Wheeler
When do we need to fit a lognormal distribution to our skewed histograms? This article considers the basic properties of the lognormal family of distributions and reveals some interesting and time-saving characteristics that are useful when analyzing data.
The lognormal family of distributions…
Mike Figliuolo
My favorite time of year is rolling around (and no, it’s not the holidays with their nauseatingly excessive tinsel-before-turkey consumerism). I’m talking about the time for end-of-year progress reviews. They’re those agonizing, mandatory, and often confusing reams of paper we’re forced to suffer…
NIST
From monitoring concentrations of greenhouse gases to detecting Covid in the breath, laser systems known as frequency combs can identify specific molecules as simple as carbon dioxide and as complex as monoclonal antibodies with unprecedented accuracy and sensitivity. Amazing as they are, however,…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s hard asking for help. Getting rejected stings. But by not asking, you’re probably missing out on some great opportunities.
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up I was a little bit of a dork. OK, OK... a huge dork. I sold comic books (and incidentally made 100 times what my…
Stephanie Ojeda
There’s an old saying in regulated industries: If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
In the past, maintaining fully compliant documentation meant handling a mountain of paper, which created extra work—and hidden risks—from a quality perspective.
Today, document management has become the…
Jeff Roscher
In the ever-evolving landscape of manufacturing, operational efficiency is paramount. The seamless functioning of machinery not only ensures optimal production but also minimizes downtime and associated costs. However, for a certain manufacturing company that had been operating in a reactive…
Zach Winn
For professor Elsa Olivetti, tackling a problem as large and complex as climate change requires not only lab research but also understanding the systems of production that power the global economy.
Her career path reflects a quest to investigate materials at scales ranging from the microscopic to…
Creaform
As manufacturers transition toward Industry 4.0 to speed up production cycles and accelerate their time to market, they nevertheless continue to face many challenges, particularly with respect to automating quality control.
Reducing costs drives the need for automated quality control
Automating…
Mike Figliuolo
Anyone who has ever seen a crew team rowing down the river has likely wondered why one person is a passenger and everyone else in the boat is rowing like mad. It would seem the coxswain has the easiest job in the boat.
It’s actually incredibly difficult, and my 16-year-old daughter (who is a…
Master Gage and Tool Co.
Calibration is essential in almost every facet of industrial processes. The calibration process verifies test instrument accuracy by comparison with recognized standards, and measurement validity hinges on one crucial concept: traceability.
Traceability adherence ensures a continuous link between…
Ian Wright
Curing time is the Achilles heel of multimaterial 3D printing. Typically, a multimaterial 3D printer uses thousands of nozzles to deposit resins, which are then smoothed with a scraper or roller before being cured with ultraviolet (UV) light. As a result, this process is constrained by how quickly…
Etienne Nichols
At one point in my career, after managing design controls and risk management documentation, I decided to move on.
When the day came to put in my two-week notice, I walked over to another engineer’s cubicle with the news. “From now on,” I said, “design controls are yours.”
I’ll never forget the…
Lee Simmons
Why are some pro sports teams perennial contenders while others can’t seem to get out of the cellar? Great players are essential, but that’s not enough. Often, the unheralded MVPs of a successful team are people who wear suits, not uniforms, to work.
In his research, George Foster, the Konosuke…
NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have built a superconducting camera containing 400,000 pixels—400 times more than any other device of its type.
Superconducting cameras allow scientists to capture very weak light signals, whether from…
Chris Caldwell
As the growth in fulfillment warehouses, e-commerce, and third-party logistics skyrockets, and unique customer demands evolve, more companies are exploring the concept of dark warehouses—fully automated, “lights-out” facilities that use intelligent, interconnected devices to operate without human…
Dawn Bailey
During the recent celebration of Manufacturing Day, thousands of U.S. manufacturers showcased the realities of modern manufacturing to students as a way to inspire the next generation.
The importance of this can’t be overemphasized. During the next decade, four million U.S. manufacturing jobs will…
Leah Chan Grinvald, Ofer Tur-Sinai
Cars are no longer just a means of transportation. They have become rolling hubs of data communication. Modern vehicles regularly transmit information wirelessly to their manufacturers.
However, as cars grow “smarter,” the right to repair them is under siege.
As legal scholars, we find that the…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s not worth getting upset over little things (or even big things) at work. Being hotheaded gets you nowhere. Just know that karma eventually works everything out.
Perspective and patience: It’s a challenge, especially in a lightning-fast business world filled with Type A’s, Cro-Magnons, and…
Gad Allon
Amazon’s incredible growth over the years has made it a textbook example of what it means for a business to scale, going from a scrappy startup in Jeff Bezos’ garage to a multinational corporation with more than 1.5 million employees.
The retailer recently announced it’s hiring 250,000 full- and…
Chris Anderson
A cost-effective process that yields solid welds for long-term performance, resistance spot welding (RSW) remains a top joining method for a variety of structural parts. RSW was one of the first applications leveraged by robotics, and advances in robot hardware and software have enhanced it.
With…
Jón Bergsteinsson
Clinical investigations play an important role in your journey of bringing a medical device to market. While the relevant standards are often perceived as difficult and complex, having a good grasp of them makes the process less confusing.
Understanding ISO 14155:2020 is essential. It’s a guide to…
Mike Figliuolo
Most companies fail due to dumb mistakes made by senior managers. The biggest mistake of all: a hubristic unwillingness to accept that there’s plenty you don’t already know.
As we get more senior in our organizations, we get a lot smarter. Our wisdom grows. We understand the business better than…
Gleb Tsipursky
In an era when flexibility and autonomy are requirements, financial services leaders are ready to break the chains of traditional office norms. The results of a recent Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence survey make it clear: The future of the financial services sector is hanging in the balance,…
