All Features
Ryan E. Day
Brodie International provides liquid flow-meters and equipment for the petroleum and industrial markets. The company specializes in producing high-precision meters and valves that are used in the custody transfer of petroleum products.
The challenge
Brodie products involve components with complex…
David H. Parker
A 154-page report by Moreu and LaFave in 2012 explains unique problems railroad bridge engineers must contend with. The gross weight of cars went from 200,000 pounds to 263,000 pounds in the 1970s, and to 286,000 pounds in 1991. The ratio of live to dead loads are much greater for railroads than…
Scott Sandwith
A clear constant in the portable metrology market is “change and integration.” Almost every new product launch couples existing concepts and wraps them with tools that enable integration into hybrid metrology-guided systems. These deliver value by deploying the strengths of the technologies in a…
Mike Richman
A 35-year commitment is an impressive achievement, whether it be to a job, a marriage, or even a sports franchise. (New York Mets, why do you so consistently forsake my love?) When it comes to an all-volunteer organization working within an extremely complex and fast-changing technical field, that…
Belinda Jones
Shepherding the implementation of any new program takes strong leadership. Building a strong, legally defensible certification program calls for a herculean kind of dedication. Randy Gruver was just the guy for the job.
More than 10 years ago, a group of interested measurement professionals and…
Belinda Jones
Achieving Smart Factory initiatives requires a seismic shift toward data-driven processes, sensors, and advanced metrology solutions. Large-scale manufacturers bear the load of crushing backlogs and internal pressures to eke out more productivity. What are the roadblocks? Will existing measurement…
George Orji
What are you looking to measure? This is one of the central questions for a metrologist (a measurement scientist) and is usually answered before measurements can proceed. It is impossible to make sense of the results without knowing the measurand—the actual physical dimension or other property of…
Ryan E. Day
If your manufacturing organization is going to grow, you know you need an inspection solution beyond the capabilities of micrometers and calipers. You know you need to gather more data in a faster and more reliable manner. It’s time to invest in a 3D inspection solution like a coordinate measuring…
Stephan Schlamminger
I discovered my affinity for attractive instruments while working a job before coming to NIST. My boss at the time had a love affair with the common hose clamp—the one with the worm gear.
Whenever we had to fasten a component to an apparatus he said, “Why don’t you use a hose clamp?” With every…
Ryan E. Day
Traditionally, technical jobs have been underrepresented by women. But that's changing, says Emily O'Dea, commercial services process manager at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.
“Without a doubt we're definitely outnumbered,” says O’Dea. “I started [my career] in a smaller company. It was…
NIST
A new measurement approach proposed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could lead to a better way to calibrate computed tomography (CT) scanners, potentially streamlining patient treatment by improving communication among doctors.
The approach, detailed in…
Marlon Walker
Robots have been a part of industry longer than you might think. The patent for the first industrial robot, Unimate, was granted in 1961. While robots were sometimes utilized by larger manufacturers, such as automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), they were rarely an option for small…
MIT News
A novel system developed at MIT uses RFID tags to help robots home in on moving objects with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The system could enable greater collaboration and precision by robots working on packaging and assembly, and by swarms of drones carrying out search-and-rescue missions.…
NIST
Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) needed a way to secure smart manufacturing systems using the digital thread, so they turned to the new kid on the block... blockchain, that is.
According to a new NIST report, the security system better known for underpinning…
David L. Chandler
Applying just a bit of strain to a piece of semiconductor or other crystalline material can deform the orderly arrangement of atoms in its structure enough to cause dramatic changes in its properties, such as the way it conducts electricity, transmits light, or conducts heat.
Now, a team of…
Guangnan Meng
Electrodes are essential components of modern lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power mobile electronic devices, electric vehicles, and many other products. The battery’s surface structure and engineering are directly related to its performance, life expectancy, and safety.
The batteries…
Ryan E. Day
In the manufacturing universe, metal tube fabrication is a world of its own. That being said, the requirements for developing a new world-standard solution for tube bending are common to all manufacturing—be faster, more accurate, and more economical.
With customers like Delta Air Lines, British…
Innovalia Metrology
Industry 4.0 has catapulted industrial production processes into new realms of advanced manufacturing, in some cases leaving quality control scrambling to catch up. The trend of industrial quality management is to implement lean and accurate production systems; however, for many enterprises, using…
Ryan E. Day
Machine-tool manufacturer Cincinnati Inc. has a heritage of building quality products and surviving great challenges. Founded in 1898, and based in the United States, Cincinnati has survived both the Great Depression and Great Recession. Cincinnati’s forward-looking attitude has been a key factor…
NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a method for evaluating and selecting optimal antenna designs for future fifth-generation (5G) cellphones, other wireless devices and base stations.
The new NIST method could boost 5G wireless network capacity…
Mike Richman
An industry, and even more so any individual company, is only as strong as its pipeline of incoming talent. This week on QDL we looked at this topic from a few different angles. Here’s what we covered at greater length:
“Ripped From the Headlines: Worker Shortage” A recent article on the Bloomberg…
Quality Digest
Annalise Suzuki, director of technology and engagement at software provider Elysium Inc., spoke to Quality Digest about the importance of model-based definitions (MBD) for data quality, validation, and engineering change management. With the increase of digital 3D models in the manufacturing…
Mike Richman
By any test, and certainly any measure, 2018 was a banner year for the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) and its keystone event, the Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC).
From the group’s founding in 1984 until today, the CMS has made a concerted and successful effort to support the…
Modern super-precision turning centers must provide accuracy in the lower range of diamond-turning machines (cylindricity of less than 1–2 μm) and high productivity. Traditionally, diamond-turning machines have not been able to provide this because of their design limitations. However, high…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
In this episode we look at bioethics, next-gen manufacturing employees, and the death of Le Grand K.
What happens if customers want designer babies? We discuss the latest news about a Chinese researcher who claims to have edited the genes of two babies. Should society draw a line in the sand?
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