One hundred years ago this month, Walter Shewhart wrote a memo that contained the first process behavior chart. In recognition of this centennial, this column reviews four different applications of the techniques that grew out of that memo.
NIST researcher Tara Fortier aligns optics to maximize the signal coming from an optical clock. The signal is measured by a frequency comb. Credit: R. Wilson/NIST
Recently, you’ve probably seen the word quantum used everywhere—in computing, in names for tech companies, and maybe even for explanations of love and consciousness.
Addressing the issue of plastic pollution and microplastics may seem impossible, but it’s certainly achievable. Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash.
Because I’m a microplastics researcher, my friends sometimes jokingly ask me, “How many microplastics do you think I consumed this week?”
The aerospace industry is constantly innovating and pushing the limits of what’s possible. This puts a lot of pressure on manufacturers to ensure their airplanes are top-notch in quality, safety, and efficiency.
Automated Handling Solutions Germany GmbH Test Center in Friedrichsdorf, Germany
In the food industry, it’s common for processors to test—and even retest—their products on the conveyor systems they are considering purchasing.
NIST Fellow and researcher Antonio Possolo helped estimate the value of the Planck constant. The Kibble balance, pictured here, uses the numerical value of Planck constant to define the kilogram. Credit: M. King/NIST
If a traveler from Germany goes to Vietnam and falls ill, the results of their blood test there should be as meaningful as if the test were taken at home.
Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash
In the healthcare sector, precision isn’t just a requirement. It’s a necessity where the margins for error are perilously thin, and the consequences of inaccuracy can be grave.
Calibration, a critical aspect of maintaining equipment precision, involves more than routine checks. It’s a complex decision-making process in which quality, lead time, and price are weighed.
Control charts help to understand a process’s “personality,” know which questions to ask, when to intervene, and when to leave a process alone. Photo by Erik Kroon on Unsplash.
In less than two months we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the control chart, a tool most often associated with statistical process control (SPC). Considering SPC from our modern perspective made us ask, “Is SPC still relevant?”
MIT researchers developed an algorithm that can automatically select the best shortcuts for a robot to take on its way to a destination that will reduce the overall travel time while limiting the likelihood that the robot will meet an impassable obstacle. Image: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT; iStock
If a robot traveling to a destination has just two possible paths, it only needs to compare the routes’ travel time and probability of success.
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