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Knowledge at Wharton
In his State of the Union address in February 2012, President Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour. “Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line,” he said…
Thomas R. Cutler
R ecently more than 194 manufacturing IT managers and directors were asked to identify what would facilitate collaboration and productivity improvements across their organizations. More than 150 people completed a multiple-choice email survey, which contained both open-ended and multiple-choice…
Bruce Hamilton
I’ve always felt the need to accentuate the positive, something I think I picked up from my mother. In tense situations she would always interject, “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” This usually generated laughter and reduced tensions. Although this seems like an admirable quality, I discovered one day…
Ron Hicks
As we all look forward to 2014, I ask you to keep the new CMS certification program in mind, whether you are a beginner or veteran metrologist. Our certification committee is working hard to build a program that is beneficial to our membership, as well as future members of our organization.
This…
Untitled Document
Although 80 percent of Accurex’s business lies in the industrial application of precision metrology and scanning, the company always enjoys the occasional cultural heritage project. When the Accurex team was called upon to scan the Sphinx of Hatshepsut, it was ready for the…
Mike Roberts
Editor’s note: A webinar on this topic will held on Nov. 19, 2013, at 11 a.m. Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern. Register here.
And previewing the webinar, Matthew Littlefield will be a guest on Quality Digest Live this Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, at 11 a.m. Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern.
Unless you’ve been hiding…
Lean Math With Mark Hamel
Weighted average cycle time (Tcwa), also known as “average weighted cycle time,” provides a representative average cycle time (Tc) within a mixed model environment. Varied models or services in a given cell, line, or work area often have varied work contents due to different steps, duration of…
Patrick Runkel
Nala, our 6-year-old golden retriever, loves her dogma. That’s her sitting in front of church on Sunday morning. But she’s not crazy about her catechism. For example, she doesn’t always dutifully follow the “lay down” commandment.
What factors may be influencing her response? We’re…
Delcam
(Delcam: Windsor, Ontario, Canada) -- Delcam has released the 2013 R2 version of its PowerINSPECT metrology software, which offers faster programming and inspection, plus even easier-to-read reports. It includes a new method for automated inspection of part edges, improved display of deviations,…
Christine Schaefer
S teven Pearlstein, a business columnist for The Washington Post, and others, have written about business leaders’ excessive and shortsighted focus on stock values for shareholders. What about the role of corporate governance boards? Aren’t board members obliged to view company management and…
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
(Hexagon Metrology: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon Metrology has announced the commercial availability of ROMER measuring arm packages equipped with PC-DMIS Touch Portable, a revolutionary measurement software. Utilizing high-resolution Multi-Touch display technology on a tablet PC, users…
Brunson
(Brunson: Kansas City, MO) -- Brunson Instrument Co. has released its TetraLock product line for shipping worldwide. The original TetraLock set a new standard in lightweight industrial metrology stands with a prestressed tetrahedron design, a pyramid-like structure known for its ultimate stability…
FARO
(FARO: Lake Mary, FL) -- FARO Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: FARO), the world's most trusted source for 3D measurement, imaging, and realization technology, announced it has released the new FARO Laser Scanner Focus3D X 330.
Building on the success of the Focus3D, the new Focus3D X 330 surpasses…
Breuckmann
(Breuckmann: Meersburg, Germany) -- About 150 years ago, archaeologists in Cambodia made a spectacular discovery: the temple ruins of Angkor Wat. The temple was built during the 12th century by the ancient people of the Khmer under the reign of King Suryavarman II, but was deserted by its…
Eston Martz
A colleague of mine at Minitab, Cheryl Pammer, was recently featured in “A Statistician’s Journey,” a monthly feature that appears in the print and online versions of the American Statistical Association’s (ASA) AMSTAT News magazine.
Each month, the magazine asks ASA members to talk about the…
Jack Dunigan
In my last column, I posted the first two motivational triggers boomers respond to. If you’re just now checking in, you can read that column here. I’m not going to continue with the next three triggers here. Instead, I want to share a story that directly relates to the theme of motivating workers…
Nikon Metrology Inc.
(Nikon Metrology: Brighton, MI) -- CAMIO offers true multi-sensor capability, allowing best-practice selection of sensor technology for each task. By combining touch trigger, analog scanning, and 3D laser scanning sensors within the same inspection program, the right inspection results are obtained…
(Solutionix: Bristol, UK) -- Solutionix, the leading developer and manufacturer of structured-light 3D scanning solutions, announced that HJC, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycle crash helmets, relied on a Solutionix Rexcan 3D scanner to provide the 3D digital data required to design and…
The NOvA (NuMI off-axis νe appearance) experiment is looking to answer fundamental questions about neutrinos and the role they play in the universe. NOvA will use two detectors, a near detector located underground at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, and a far detector located 810 km from Fermilab…
Creaform Inc.
Creaform Inc., developer of the Handyscan 3D laser scanner, was recently acquired for approximately $120 million by AMETEK Inc., a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electro-mechanical devices.
Creaform was formed in 2002 in Lévis, Québec, Canada, near Québec City. In 2005, the…
API Services
(API: Newport News, VA) -- API Services, a subsidiary of metrology provider Automated Precision Inc. (API), announced this month that it has reached partnerships with two design and manufacturing leaders in the nuclear and energy industries. The partnerships are the result of ongoing growth in the…
Annette Franz
In March 2013, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it was changing some of its carry-on restrictions; in addition to certain types of knives, TSA decided to allow passengers to bring golf clubs, hockey sticks, and plastic bats onto planes, all of which had been restricted…
Bill Kalmar
Like most of us, I like to occasionally receive a simple “thank you” for something I have done. I think during this holiday season we should turn the tables a bit and bestow a hearty thanks to a segment of our population that at times does not receive enough “thank yous.” I’m speaking of the men…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Story update 12/06/2013: Wow did we mess up. When this story originally published we, the editors, introduced an error into the story regarding the Alaskan oil spill (which the author hadn't mentioned in his original) and didn't realize it. When readers pointed out the error we compounded the…
Dawn Bailey
In Baldrige’s 2013–2014 Criteria for Performance Excellence, innovation is defined as making meaningful, discontinuous change to products, processes, or organizational effectiveness in order to create new value for stakeholders. So you might not expect to find an example of such innovation in a…
