All Features
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Technology is amazing. It’s amazing that I own a smartphone with more power than a 10-year-old laptop. It’s amazing that we have self-driving cars or smart appliances that tell you when you need to go shopping, ideas considered science fiction 20 years ago. It’s even amazing that you are reading…
NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have produced and precisely measured a spectrum of X-rays using a new, state-of-the-art machine. The instrument they used to measure the X-rays took 20 years to develop, and will help scientists working at the agency make…
FARO
A researcher from the University of Cambridge recently worked on the Bonavista Peninsula to get a better understanding of what’s left of some of the oldest organisms in the history of life on earth.
Paleontologist Emily Mitchell used portable 3D metrology equipment from FARO and Manchester…
Jean-Angelo Beraldin, David MacKinnon, Luc Cournoyer
Recent interest in portable coordinate measuring systems (CMS) has attracted the attention of industrial users and the technical community at large. Articulated arm coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and optically tracked CMM (OTCMM) systems have emerged from being “nice-to-have” to “must-have”…
Keith Bevan
The 33rd annual Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) is rapidly approaching in Snowbird, Utah from July 17–20. Preparations are moving forward at a land speed record pace, a reasonable expectation with the conference being held close to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The event has earned…
Ryan E. Day
During the 1950s, W. Edwards Deming championed quality management philosophies that helped Japan develop into a world-class industrial center. In 1954, Joseph M. Juran was invited to lecture by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. His visit marked a turning point in Japan’s quality…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
Everyone in manufacturing has heard about the fantastic properties of composite materials, but if you’re not involved in satellite communications (SATCOM), you’ve probably never heard of Eclipse Composites. If you are into SATCOM and particularly SATCOM antennas, you know the…
Patrick Nugent
Sponsored Content
Joe Gibbs Racing, a family business founded by former three-time Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs, is one of today’s most successful racing teams. In its 25-year history, it has earned four NASCAR Cup Series championships, five NASCAR XFINITY Series…
Nick Butch
One of my favorite things about being a condensed matter physicist is how broadly defined the subject is. There are lots of interesting phenomena begging for scientific attention, so it’s never boring. One of my favorite topics lies at the crossroads of magnetism and superconductivity.
Magnets…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
For manufacturers, big parts pose big challenges. How does one measure parts that are in excess of 15 ft and also have complex geometry? Design and inspection are part and parcel of all manufacturing operations, but as product size increases, and part geometry grows more complex…
Olympus
Sponsored Content
Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations help protect the public from the toxicity and pollution associated with consumer products and electronics. Beyond public health and safety concerns, the cost of noncompliance, including fines, product recalls, and decreased…
Henry Zumbrun
Imagine that a satellite is launched into space and communications are intermittent. This happens because the satellite is wobbling, which causes connection problems in the receiver. The cause of the wobbling is identified: It is the result of not using a calibration provider with a low enough…
David Sefcik
Believe it or not, I love to grocery shop. Besides getting to pick all my favorite foods, I love the challenge of getting the best deals—and a challenge it can sometimes be. Without a doubt, I have found that the best tool available to enable price and value comparison is unit pricing—you know,…
Eugene Daniell
Sponsored Content
Every day, quality and production process leaders must find new ways to improve product processes in a constantly changing manufacturing environment. For most companies, the low-hanging fruit of process improvement is a distant memory. Now, it’s all about seeking significant…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
Brian Vinson may have one of the best jobs in the country. Vinson works as director of engineering with AWE Tuning, an automotive aftermarket company that provides award-winning, handcrafted performance exhausts, track-tested carbon-fiber intakes, and performance intercoolers.
“…
Joe Flanagan
There are many factors that influence the accuracy of a weighing system. Assuming that external factors are minimized or eliminated, the most important factor is the appropriate selection of the load cell for a given weighing application. This discussion covers the key load-cell specifications…
Bert Coursey
Marie Curie is perhaps the most famous woman of 20th-century science. Major films and best-selling biographies have chronicled her discovery of the radioactive elements polonium and radium, for which she shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and then received a second Nobel Prize, this time in…
Renishaw
Land Rover Ben Ainsile Racing (BAR) is no stranger to cutting-edge technologies. The British yacht racing team, formed by four-time Olympic gold medalist and America’s Cup winner Sir Ben Ainsile, uses artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and most recently, additive manufacturing (3D…
Ann Chiaramonti Debay
I have worked with many valuable materials in my career. Precious metals like gold and platinum, rare engineered nanomaterials, and fragile gemstones nearly as old as the Earth itself. But the unassuming jars of fine gray-brown powder I found myself holding last year left them all in the dust, so…
Katherine McIntosh
In 1970, the Seabee Memorial Association began construction to build a monument in Washington, D.C. to honor the memory of those who served in Naval Construction Battalions. The famous Felix de Weldon—a former Seabee—designed the monument of dark brown marble with bronze figures and a bronze back…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Businesses don’t have to chose between being “tree huggers” or “planet plunderers.” Black History Month: NIST employee was one of the developers of the computerized spreadsheet. Metrology: process signature analysis and large-field-of-view, multisensor systems.
“African-American History Month:…
NIST
To any of his sports-fan colleagues, NIST mathematician and computer programmer Vernon Dantzler might have been somewhat of a celebrity. Dantzler had been a professional baseball player, and a star shortstop in the Texas circuit of the Negro Baseball League during the early 1940s, before the…
Alexander Schönberg, Mike Wehn, Alexander Richter
Measurement-assisted assembly has been integrated into the production flow in recent years. Many processes are designed for a high repeatability through fixtures and maximum stiffness. They approach an optimal operating point through iterative processes using measurements. This approach permits…
Belinda Jones
The Coordinate Metrology Society, in collaboration with UNC Charlotte, announced the fifth working meeting of the PrecisionPath Consortium for Large-Scale Manufacturing will be held on March 23, 2017, in Dallas, at the Hyatt Regency DFW, Terminal C. The PrecisionPath Consortium has worked steadily…
Keith Bevan
To kick off 2017, the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) has recently launched a new website and brand refresh with new features and old favorites such as technical papers, presentations, and technical reports, to name but a few. The organization is also in full swing preparing for the 33rd annual…
