Integration is a broad term used in quality circles to describe anything from manually merging data output from two different systems, such as material requirements planning (MRP) and statistical process control (SPC), to commanding programmable logic controllers (PLCs) from quality data input. Integrating systems, software, machines, and instruments can provide benefits such as increased throughput, ease of use, and increased accuracy. Therefore, what questions can be asked of equipment vendors to ensure your new device is “integration friendly?”

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