Temperature is one of the four most common types of process loops. While the other common loops—flow, level, and pressure—occur more often, temperature loops are generally more difficult and important.

A green laser flashes across a high-pressure spray that fuels a jet engine. Those flashes, some just 50 millionths of a second apart, freeze the droplets of fuel for a camera to record and a computer to analyze.

From time to time there are advances in technology that merit recognition.

(Minitab: State College, PA) -- Swiss-based Metalor Technologies, a global leader in precious metals and advanced materials, is a supplier to electronics companies and manufacturers of medical and electrical equipment.

(Nikon Metrology: Brighton, MI) -- Process Sciences Inc. (PSI), a process engineering resource center, runs X-ray inspections to trace connectivity issues in electronic circuitry that otherwise remain hidden to the eye.

A new year always brings new hope, new plans, and new perspectives. While looking ahead is the most direct route to progress, looking back is essential to understanding the present. After all, the past creates the consequences that will shape the future.

Managing point data sets is already a concern for clients. Now the surveying industry promotes its efficiency at the cost of best practices with a million-point-per-second milestone.

Effective communication and consistent measurement across all engineering disciplines and processes are essential to the design and manufacture of the highest quality products. Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) is key to achieving these goals.

Jeffrey G. Stark is president of Sensor Products Inc.