All Features
Leslie Bloom
Our country has proven to be a place where workers who are skilled with their hands (and have a head for all things mechanical) can flourish, even during difficult times.
The value of resilience has been etched into the soul of our most famous products: • Thomas Edison’s phonograph in 1877 • Henry…
Adam Zewe
Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.
Many robotic hands pack all their powerful sensors into the fingertips, so an object must be in full contact with…
Manufacturing Automation Systems LLC
In today’s global manufacturing markets, the need for accurate measurement has moved well beyond micrometers, gauges, and calipers. That’s why manufacturers are replacing manual metrology tools with fully automated systems. But what is automated metrology?
Automated metrology, sometimes called 3D…
Rip Stauffer
A couple of years ago, my wife decided to surprise me by taking me over to our local Tesla dealership so I could test drive a Tesla. We put a deposit down to hold our place in line, and two months later took delivery of a Model Y Performance. I loved everything about it, took everyone who asked…
Bob Ferrone
Quality and sustainability are two critical aspects of modern business operations that are closely intertwined. While quality refers to the level of excellence or standard achieved in a product or service, sustainability relates to the ability to maintain or improve that quality over time while…
Etienne Nichols
I have a bold opinion: The corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process is the second-most important component of your quality management system (QMS). (If you want to know what I think is No. 1, shoot me an email.) As you build medical devices, a well-defined CAPA program provides a framework…
Gleb Tsipursky
A recent study at the University of Birmingham, which surveyed 597 managers, has shed light on how managers’ attitudes toward the hybrid work model have changed as a result of the pandemic. Surprisingly, the findings reveal an increasingly positive outlook on the benefits of remote and flexible…
Bryan Christiansen
People often use the terms maintenance and reliability interchangeably. However, they are two separate concepts. Although there is some overlap, their scope and focus are quite different.
Understanding those differences, as well as how each concept affects the other, is a necessary step for…
Bruce Hamilton
There’s a certain irony in the recent attention paid to the application of robots on the shop floor. On a couple occasions in the past year, I’ve heard manufacturing colleagues talk about the benefits of deploying robots to handle material conveyance. “Better,” they say, “to redeploy humans to…
Brian Brooks
Producing high-quality products is crucial for any business. But designing quality into the product from the start is the only significant way a business can improve its product margins. When you use detection methods and find a nonconformance, you’ve already invested in that nonconforming product…
Jennifer V. Miller
Being a leader is tough enough, but it’s downright demoralizing if you feel like you’re swimming upstream against the currents of a toxic workplace. If you want to stand apart and make a positive difference at work, it might seem like you’re living in this weird, misshapen house where some of the…
Fred Miller
Researchers in Arkansas and two other states will be using a $5 million grant to increase use of artificial intelligence and robotics in chicken processing to reduce waste in deboning and detect pathogens.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and…
Steve Calechman
Sustainability is a hot topic. Companies throw around their carbon or recycling initiatives, and competing executives feel the need to follow suit. But aside from the external pressure, there are also bottom-line benefits. Becoming more efficient can save money. Creating a new product might make…
Megan Wallin-Kerth
At last year’s Masters Summit, MasterControl’s chief strategy officer, Matt Lowe, chatted with Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar, about the challenges and rewards of his work and the many titles he’s held over the years. Lowe, who has worked at MasterControl for more than 15 years, has a lot to say…
Zach Winn
There’s a lot riding on farmers’ ability to fight weeds, which can strangle crops and destroy yields. To protect crops, farmers have two options: They can spray herbicides that pollute the environment and harm human health, or they can hire more workers.
Unfortunately, both choices are becoming…
Daniel Croft
As the aviation industry continues to evolve, the need for advanced technology to perform aircraft inspections is important. One such technology is noncontact scanning, which is becoming increasingly popular for full aircraft inspections.
Given the extreme forces to which aircraft are subjected…
Ashley Hixson
The skills gap in science and technology is an issue affecting the industry on a global scale. Now, a new partnership between Purdue University and Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division is making a difference.
If you’ve ever looked at a timeline of significant scientific discoveries, you’…
Krysten Crawford
Why aren’t there more women working in tech? For all the hiring pledges, networking initiatives, and one-on-one mentoring programs, women hold 30 percent of tech jobs worldwide—even though they make up half the global population.
The implications of having a more representative workforce are…
ISO
Economic practices need to change. The environmental and social consequences of unsustainable growth strategies are becoming increasingly obvious. A circular economy offers a way to counteract the climate crisis, strengthen our adaptive capacity, and make society more sustainable and resilient.…
Peter Büscher
This article will focus on a sampling method that is commonly used to analyze fluid: direct liquid filtration. Simply put, direct liquid filtration is a sampling technique used to determine the particles present in a liquid.
In direct liquid filtration, the liquid with suspended particles is…
Gleb Tsipursky
One of the biggest challenges for companies in transitioning to remote work is their handling of layoffs. Having helped 21 companies transition to hybrid and remote work, I can attest that planning for the whole worker’s life cycle, from onboarding to offboarding, is critical as part of effective…
NIST
Detailed virtual copies of physical objects, called digital twins, are opening doors for better products across automotive, healthcare, aerospace, and other industries. According to a new study, cybersecurity may also fit neatly into the digital twin portfolio.
As more robots and other…
Ethan Lee
‘Imposter Syndrome” is a term coined in the late 1970s from research carried out by Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes. Their research showed that many high-achieving women believed they were not intelligent enough and were being over-evaluated by others. Imposter Syndrome has therefore come to…
Todd Hawkins
Most companies face the challenge of managing the documentation they generate—those that are developed to control their business and processes (e.g., standard operating procedures—SOPs) and the associated records as evidence of compliance with those procedures. This may go a step further if the…
Katie Rapp
A major focus of the current administration is revitalizing American manufacturing as new technologies are changing the way things are made. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) director Pravina Raghavan recently appeared on Government Matters TV, where she discussed how MEP National Network…
