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Even though contact “drag” scanning and noncontact laser scanning are prevalent in our industry, there are many manufacturers who still use kinematic touch trigger probes. Questions often come up regarding when a probe should be replaced. Is there a best practice for troubleshooting?
Of course,…
“That’s so 27 seconds ago.” My daughter and I recently heard this catch phrase on a television commercial. We had a good laugh because there was some truth to it. We are living in a world of real-time updates, and it does not stop at news and social media. It extends to all facets of our lives.
In…
As we arrived in the lobby of the Westin in Grand Cayman, George Davidson was playing the love song from The Phantom of the Opera on the grand piano. Grand Cayman is one of our favorite winter retreats and Davidson has been a staple of what we enjoy about that warm and refreshing island since we…
(MESA International: Chandler, AZ) -- Every two years, Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International, a community of manufacturers, producers, industry leaders, and solution providers focused on improving operations management capabilities, and its research partner, Cambashi,…
(Productivity Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- As a society, we tend to reward problem solvers rather than those who prevent problems at their source. In other words, we focus on after-the-fact occurrences (“appraisal activities”) instead of trying to eliminate these occurrences (“preventing activities…
(Elcometer: Manchester, UK) -- As part of its continuing growth strategy Elcometer, a leader in equipment for the corrosion-inspection industry, has launched a comprehensive range of ultrasonic thickness gauges and flaw detectors.
The range includes both corrosion and precision thickness gauges…
During the early 2000s, people discovered how great pomegranate juice is. It’s filled with antioxidants that help us avoid colds and other maladies. Well, no one likes to be sick, so people started buying the juice by the case. Sure enough, they felt healthier. So they drank more and more until…
(AMT: McLean, VA) -- December 2011 U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $519.98 million according to The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA). This total, as reported by companies participating in the U.S.…
(nCode: Southfield, MI) -- nCode, the leading brand of durability, test, and analysis products offered by HBM, introduces with version 8 of its software suite significant new technologies for both physical test and computer-aided engineering (CAE) durability. nCode 8 includes nCode GlyphWorks, a…
(Wiley: Hoboken, NJ) -- Based on the work at the Stanford University’ Institute of Design and its Environments Collaborative Initiative, Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration, by Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft (Wiley, 2012), is a tool that shows how space can be…
I was three or four jokes into my routine, when I realized that one of the troublemakers my client warned me about was sitting dead center in the front row. With arms firmly crossed over his chest, and a frown deeply embedded in his face, he was glaring defiantly at me with eyes that said, “You’ll…
My monthly newsletter’s theme is “Integrating Lean and Quality.” I call it this because there seems to be somewhat of a common understanding and acceptance that lean and quality have no relationship to each other. 5S is an example of a process that transcends, or should transcend, this misdirected…
(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- More than half of the engineers polled in a recent survey from the American Society for Quality (ASQ) said the amount of studying needed to succeed and maintain high grades in science and math were the primary challenges they faced while pursuing an engineering degree.
While…
For one Connecticut manufacturer of close-tolerance, precision metal parts, a nearly 20-year commitment to lean manufacturing has naturally evolved into using self-directed work teams for the past two years to set the ambitious objectives of 100-percent on-time delivery and 100-percent quality.…
Editor's note: Lisa Greenleaf will be appearing on the May 4, 2012, episode of Quality Digest Live at 11 a.m. Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern. That episode will be available on-demand beginning Monday, May 7, 2012.
For as long as cargo has been transported via road, there has been cargo theft. Whether from…
(Gartner: Stamford CT) -- Organizational politics are emerging as a challenge, and through 2016 they will prevent at least one-third of business process management (BPM) efforts progressing from one-off projects to enterprisewide adoption, according to Gartner Inc.
Gartner analysts revealed some…
(NIST: Washington) -- President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget for the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) submitted to Congress proposes an appropriations funding level of $857 million, an increase of $106.2 million from FY 2012.
More than half of…
(SAE International: Detroit) -- Companies seeking to hire automotive engineering professionals will be able to meet with prospective candidates at the SAE 2012 World Congress Career Fair in Detroit. The fair will be held April 24–25, 2012, at Cobo Center in the lobby in front of Detroit Hall from…
It was a thrilling ride for the team of students representing the University of Michigan’s solar car, Quantum, in the World Solar Challenge in Australia.
A 30-minute documentary, Racing with the Sun, that offers a vivid up-close look at the team’s dedication and determination in the Outback. The…
Scott Stern doesn’t work in a laboratory or have a degree in the hard sciences. You’ll never find him using a genome sequencer or an MRI scanner. Yet he knows more about some aspects of science than almost any practicing scientist does.
That’s because Stern, an economist at the MIT Sloan School of…
Compliance is an unfortunate word in connection with standards because it suggests something arduous, unpleasant, costly, and annoying that one must do to “get the certificate.”
It’s true that organizations must meet certain requirements to register to a standard like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and the…
(A2LA: Frederick, MD) -- The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA), provider of comprehensive services in laboratory accreditation and laboratory-related training, in collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), the national nonprofit representing…
(ISO 9001 Conference: Orlando, FL) -- The 20th Annual International Conference on ISO 9000 has been structured to provide a balanced program of presentations by corporate executives and management system experts. Most organizations face compelling issues that must be continually addressed to…
(CMSC: Benbrook, TX) -- The Coordinate Metrology Society, the preeminent membership association for measurement professionals, is reminding quality professionals that the March 1, 2012, call for papers deadline for the 2012 Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC) is approaching. The 28th…
(FDA: Silver Spring, MD) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued three draft guidance documents on biosimilar product development to assist industry in developing such products in the United States.
“When it comes to getting new biosimilar products on the market, the FDA has…
