All Features

Matthew M. Lowe
While most business sectors have welcomed the efficiencies and benefits that cloud technologies and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings bring, the life sciences industry has been slow to embrace external cloud networks. Merely a decade ago, in fact, an International Data Corp. survey showed that…

Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
As some of you already know, I was in Ford Motor Co.’s corporate quality office during the early 1980s when, just after “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We” aired on NBC, we pleaded with W. Edwards Deming to help us out of a very bad place. One of the things I most remember about those times was that he…

David Dubois
Faced with a growing range of tech solutions in marketing, from AI to big data to blockchain, business-to-business (B2B) companies too often choose the status quo. Recent evidence suggests the divide between success and failure is not about how much companies spend, but how well they integrate…

Kevin Meyer
My favorite part of a recent podcast with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (Avery, 2018), was the last five minutes, when he talked about a potential downside of good habits. When we decide to improve and create a new practice with the right cues and rewards, we form a new habit. But habits can…

Jon Speer
The European Medical Device Regulation (MDR) is a new set of regulations that governs the production and distribution of medical devices in Europe, and compliance with the regulation is mandatory for medical device companies that want to sell their products in the European marketplace.
If your…

Jay Arthur—The KnowWare Man
When I first learned quality improvement back in 1989 at Florida Power and Light, the consultants who trained us taught a very specific way to draw a Pareto chart. They’d been trained in Japan, the place where quality improvement first took root during the 1950s, so I took it for granted that the…

Jessica Thiefels
A leader’s job is to keep the team on track. You focus on hitting deadlines and executing projects without losing focus or getting lost in the weeds of decisions, communications, and logistics. The ability to execute in this way is critical for every leader.
In fact, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman…

James J. Kline
The term “risk-based thinking” (RBT) is familiar to those in the quality profession. This familiarity comes in part from its inclusion in ISO 9001:2015, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) quality management system standard. Although numerous articles and several books have…

Nicole Radziwill
As early as 2015, McKinsey’s “Digital America” report projected that adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing alone was expected to increase domestic GDP by more than $2 trillion by 2025. This estimate, developed from expectations surrounding productivity enhancements, waste reduction…

Isaac Maw
In manufacturing today, data analysis tools can give management the information it needs to make better decisions in areas such as maintenance and labor. Unfortunately, however, many data analytics systems require large sets of historical data to generate accurate and useful results.
According to…

Vip Vyas, Diego Nannicini
Is your enterprise dominated by passive thinking and prescribed routines? Or is it one that generates fresh thinking and unlocks insights into the future?
The viral popularity of TED Talks—with more than a billion views to date—highlights the innate hunger we have for discovering breakthrough…

Alex Bekker
Do you know what a retailer and a tightrope walker have in common? They both have to balance. For the tightrope walker, the logic is clear. But what’s the balance that a retailer is looking for?
A typical dilemma of shortages vs. storage costs
Although the dilemma of shortages vs. storage costs is…

Mike Micklewright
Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it follows behind the previous three revolutions of: 1) mechanization, water, and steam power; 2) mass production, assembly lines, and electricity; and 3…

Ryan E. Day
Current business conversation often focuses on data and big data. Data are the raw information from which statistics are created and provide an interpretation and summary of data. Statistics make it possible to analyze real-world business problems and measure key performance indicators that enable…
ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions
(Carl Zeiss IMT: Maple Grove, MN) -- ZEISS is expanding the industrial metrology and quality assurance portfolio of its Industrial Quality & Research segment by acquiring GOM, a leading provider of hardware and software for automated 3D coordinate measuring technology. Both ZEISS and GOM have…
(Evatronix: Bielsko-Biala, Poland) -- Evatronix launched its eviXmatic automated quality inspection system in North America at the Rapid+ TCT Expo 2019, May 21–23, in Detroit, MI. eviXmatic is a four-axis solution integrating the eviXscan 3D scanner to perform full-field, noncontact part…
InnovMetric Software
(InnovMetric Software Inc.: Quebec, PQ) -- InnovMetric Software Inc., a leading provider of universal 3D metrology software solutions, has announced the launch of the 2019 release of the PolyWorks Metrology Suite. This latest major release delivers new object measurement scripts that open the door…
Mike Richman
On May 20, 1875, representatives from 17 of the leading industrial nations of the world met in Paris to set precise international standards for the meter and kilogram. Coming out of the meetings, the signatories to the Treaty of the Metre agreed to maintain internationally accepted standards and…
Calibrating an absolute distance meter (ADM) laser tracker requires long linear distances. For such distances, the room temperature is a significant factor. Even though the calibration room’s temperature is controlled within ± 2° C, actual temperature and temperature variation in one end of the…
Belinda Jones
The Coordinate Metrology Society is pleased to announce Michael Raphael, president of Direct Dimensions and a veteran metrologist, will give the keynote address at this year's Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC). Former NASA astronaut, engineer, and educator Dr. Bonnie Dunbar will be the…
Belinda Jones
There are plenty of opinions in the blogosphere about technical papers, their value to the marketplace, and the pros and cons of producing them. Despite all the debate on the topic, the tirelessly persisting technical paper is here to stay. For the measurement professional, there is no richer…
Scott Sandwith
No matter how much metrology experience you have gained as a practitioner, the 2019 Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) is designed so every level of attendee can learn something new. CMSC provides the venue to explore new concepts, systems, interfaces, tools, and the opportunity to…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division recently announced it has broken ground on the construction of a new expansion project on a 5-acre site in Novi, MI. Slated for completion in the Fall of 2019, the 88,000 sq. ft. building will…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a chip on which laser light interacts with a tiny cloud of atoms to serve as a miniature toolkit for measuring important quantities, such as length, with quantum precision. The design…
(SHINING 3D: Hangzhou, China) -- SHINING 3D has released its newest industrial-level metrology solution comprised of three products: the FreeTrak optical tracker, the Freescan Trak 3D scanner, and the FreeTrak Probe, which work in conjunction or separately to provide a truly comprehensive…