All Features
Environmental Quality Corner with Ken Appel
Ken Appel is the manager of regulated industries for Veriteq.
T
he U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its European Union counterparts recently agreed to cooperate on pharmaceutical plant inspections to enable stepped-up enforcement of safety guidelines. These agreements will help…
InnovMetric
Aerodynamic Trailer Systems Ltd. (ATS) of Auburn, Ohio, has developed a new product that fits on commercial trailer doors to provide a more aerodynamic shape to the rear of the trailer. The object is a “Green Technology” to reduce emissions by improving fuel efficiency of over-the-road trucks. The…
Xing-Fei He is senior product manager at DALSA Corp.
Flawless brake operation is so essential to the safety of a vehicle that all brake systems have passed some type of safety testing before a driver ever gets behind the wheel. But how much better would you, as a driver, feel knowing that the…
Noncontact measurement is the fastest growing segment in the metrology world, with new methods and technologies being introduced every year. As with all new solutions, end users want to know how to evaluate the performance of these new products, and for that they turn to standards organizations.…
AICON 3D Systems
Uwira Oy , based in the West-Finnish harbor town of Vaasa, is part of the Leinolat Group, a corporation of six companies. Since 1993, the company has successfully manufactured welding products for the energy, shipbuilding, and machine-building sectors. One of Uwira’s special fields is the…
Talion Edwards
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has been invaluable to the U.S. measurement industry by developing calibration techniques for equipment used for large volume portable metrology. The U.K.'s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has made a further commitment to address the…
Talion Edwards
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has been invaluable to the U.S. measurement industry by developing calibration techniques for equipment used for large volume portable metrology. The United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has made a further commitment to…
Rob Snoeijs is a freelance technical writer for LayerWise.
LayerWise, a company based in Leuven, Belgium, focuses on selective laser melting (SLM), a powerful technology that shapes any desired metal-part geometry by melting metal powder layer by layer. Using this digital approach, the optimum…
In 2008, wheel-alignment machine builder Burke E. Porter Europe NV (BEP) approached 3-D measurements specialists LMI Technologies Inc. for advice. At the time, BEP was developing plans to improve performance for end-of-line wheel alignment with its series of noncontact-alignment (NCA) machines.…
Reporting and documentation are fundamental aspects of the modern quality control (QC) laboratory. Whether using digital imaging to document a defect on a mission-critical subcomponent, performing micron-level measurements of wear on precision machined parts, or collecting important statistical…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
A favorite media lament these days concerns the lack of high-school graduates prepared to go forth into design, engineering, or technology. That’s why we have seen so much push recently on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs for our schools. Industry is clamoring for…
Direct Dimensions Inc.
“The Awakening” is a 70-foot sculpture by J. Seward Johnson that depicts a man struggling to free himself from the earth. The installation, which has been a landmark for nearly three decades in Washington D.C.’s Hains Point, is comprised of five aluminum body parts: a right foot, a left knee, a…
Donald Jasurda
The value of ongoing maintenance and prevention is no secret. We know we can save a lot of anguish and money by taking preventive actions today and every day to avoid major problems later. This principle also applies to the quality of the products designed each day by engineers.
The “…
Donald Jasurda
The value of ongoing maintenance and prevention is no secret. We know we can save a lot of anguish and money by taking preventive actions today and every day to avoid major problems later. This principle also applies to the quality of the products designed each day by engineers.
The “…
Manufacturing is getting easier in many ways, at least as far as the technology is concerned. For example, machine tools are simpler to program and operate, rapid prototyping means that product development is faster and cheaper than ever, and user-friendly CAD software may even negate the need for…
GKS Global Services
Jamie Goldstein from Newton, Massachusetts, was 15 years old and an aspiring car designer when he sculpted an elaborate car design in clay. Having the foresight to create a design portfolio of his work, he wanted to make a more durable model of the clay car, painted and detailed. Modeling clay was…
NIST
With growing interest in using nanoparticles for everything from antibacterial socks to medical imaging to electronic devices, the need to understand the environmental, health, and safety risks of these particles also grows. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)…
During the past few years, I’ve found myself encountering more customers requiring gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R) studies performed on thread gauges. When I say, “thread gauges,” I’m really referring to indicating thread gauges; you might refer to them as “snap gauges” or “tri-…
Bob Cramblitt
When the NASA Discovery space shuttle launches in November, there will be dozens of upgrades and safety modifications, but one thing will remain unchanged from every mission during the last five years: 3-D scanning and processing will be used to help ensure the safe return of astronauts to Earth…
Laser Design Inc.
RavenWorks, a Maple Grove, Minnesota, company known for its automotive machining and testing business, is launching its own line of automotive parts. RavenWorks’ employees, who are hot-rod enthusiasts, saw a need in the market for replacement parts for vintage vehicles. They decided to carefully…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
Although it takes longer to say, “Do we really need a leap second?” than to allow one to come and go, the ongoing wrangle over these troublesome if fleeting moments has spanned a decade now. Most of the debate has occurred off the clock, at least as far as everyday living goes. Alarms continue to…
On behalf of the Coordinate Metrology Society Executive Committee,
I would like to thank each of you for contributing to the 2010 Coordinate Measurement Systems Conference. Each member of the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) is responsible for adding to the exchange of technical ideas, concepts…
Automated Precision Inc.
Martin Säger, survey engineer at Wolz Nautic: The measurement of the templates clearly saved time.
Brothers Michael and Andreas Wolz manufactured 5,000 teak boat decks last year, a hand-crafted product with high requirements for quality. Their business, Wolz Nautic,…
The acronym MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) has long been part of the aerospace vernacular. But only recently have service providers adopted automated tools to streamline the upfront process of capturing and digitally reconstructing physical parts that require repairs or redesign.
The…
At the Harris Corp. (Government Communications Systems Division—GCSD), solid carbon-fiber and aluminum-shaped reflector dishes are manufactured to support military ground, sea, and air communications. These reflectors range in size from 1 to 13 m. To meet performance requirements, the surface…