Should quality professionals be worried about the new Covid strains originating in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and elsewhere, and recently identified in the United States?

Authorities have focused on downplaying concerns about vaccine effectiveness against these new variants. While some legitimate concerns exist that our vaccines might be 10–20 percent less effective against the new strains, this small difference shouldn’t make you too worried.

However, another aspect of these new variants should make you very worried indeed: They’re much more contagious. Unfortunately, the implications of their contagiousness has received little news coverage.

(Michigan Metrology: Livonia, MI) -- Michigan Metrology, experts in solving problems related to surface texture, wear, finish, and friction, announce an online, two-day class in surface texture, friction, and wear. The class, which will be held online March 10–11, 2021, is part of a suite of online training options that the company has made available to further understanding of surface roughness concepts.

“The March class is designed for engineers, technicians, and researchers working in automotive, aerospace, materials, medical devices, polymers, and other fields,” says Donald Cohen, Ph.D., who will present the course. “The online format makes it possible for our viewers to continue to grow their understanding of how texture affects component function—even while we can’t easily travel to attend trainings in person.”

Recently, the team at 4C Creative Cad CAM Consultants in Emmen, Netherlands, was given a unique task: How to get a vintage Harley Davidson motorcycle back on the road again.

What was fun about this project wasn’t how challenging it was, or how much expertise it required. The joy was in the end itself, to provide a straightforward solution to a question that had been on the mind of one man for decades: How to get his vintage motorcycle capable of starting and riding on the streets. The solution was to scan a broken part that could no longer be found and 3D print a replacement.

The problem was brought to Carl van de Rijzen of Visual First in the Netherlands, who has been working with Edwin Rappard of 4C Creative CAD CAM Consultants for more than two years. Living on opposite ends of the country, the two have never met in person. “I send something to Edwin, he scans it and sends it back,” says van de Rijzen. The same thing occurred in this case.

NVision’s engineering services are helping managers of coal-fired power plants converting to natural gas to determine more quickly where to install updated instrumentation necessary to retrofit turbines to accommodate the new power source.

“By measuring the equipment via laser scanning, then creating precise 3D models of the turbine assemblies for engineers to analyze for optimal installation points, we can significantly expedite the plants’ transitions,” says Steve Kersen, president of NVision. “This can result in huge cost savings for projects that would otherwise have been budgeted for a lengthier period using less sophisticated measurement methods. In one recent project, a Southeast power plant converting to a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT*) system will increase wattage output by more than 30 percent and save more than $250,000 by using our services.”