All Features
Megan Wallin-Kerth
As the July 22–25, 2024, Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) rapidly approaches, quality professionals anticipate opportunities to explore and showcase various products and ideas from some of the biggest names and organizations. InnovMetric, Hexagon, Renishaw, Nikon, and many others will…
Adam Zewe
(MIT: Cambridge, MA) -- Before a robot can grab dishes off a shelf to set the table, it must ensure its gripper and arm won’t crash into anything and potentially shatter the fine china. As part of its motion planning process, a robot typically runs “safety check” algorithms that verify its…
Etienne Nichols
In a highly regulated industry like medical technology, manufacturing processes must undergo either process verification or process validation to ensure they’re consistently producing the correct result. The question is, which one should you use?
Verification and validation are two different…
Atul Minocha
Do you ever feel like you’re spending money like crazy on marketing and getting little or nothing in return? If so, you might be tempted to pull the plug on marketing altogether. That would be a big mistake.
An effective marketing strategy can mean the difference between your organization’s success…
Ryan E. Day
Metrology may sound like an esoteric dark art, but it isn’t. If you’re involved in manufacturing of any stripe, you’re almost certainly a metrology practitioner. Coordinate metrology, on the other hand, is a more narrow subset of the field but still widely used in many industries for various…
Ryan E. Day
Every so often an event, invention, or idea is so momentous it changes the face of entire industries. In some ways, the global response to Covid-19 has been such an event. In the case of metrology, however, it has only underscored that the foundational requirements of test and measurement remain…
Belinda Jones
Back in 2016, the PrecisionPath Consortium (PPC), in cooperation with the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) and UNC Charlotte, conducted the very first industry survey in support of their lead project—the Technology Roadmap for Large-Scale Manufacturing. 3D measurement professionals answered…
David H. Parker
It is well known that the speed of light depends on the index of refraction of the medium in which the light is propagating. It is also well known that in a dispersive medium, the speed of an amplitude modulated wavefront depends on the group refractive index, i.e., slightly slower than the carrier…
Belinda Jones
When it comes to metrology education, the CMS is all about its newest training asset 3D Measurement U or simply 3DMU. Developed in partnership with Quality Digest, 3DMU is an online video training program for organizations, educators, and metrology practitioners. The new resource offers a first…
Mike Richman
One hundred and forty-five years ago today, on May 20, 1875, delegates from 17 nations to the Metre Convention in Paris signed the Treaty of the Metre, which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). This organization standardized many of the measurements that we now take…
Matthew Ilardo
Without question, 2019 has been a great year for all of us at the Coordinate Metrology Society.
First of all, we celebrated our 35th anniversary, and the 10th year of our Measurement Zone. Our annual event, CMSC 2019, was a huge success this summer in Orlando with great new programs, a fantastic…
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is strategically constructed on the summit of Haleakala, 10,023 ft above sea level, which is an ideal vantage point for solar observations. Site construction started in 2012 and moved into the integration, testing, and commissioning (IT&C) phase…
Mike Richman
Current Coordinate Metrology Society Chair Matt Ilardo of Brookhaven National Laboratory and CMS PrecisionPath Consortium Co-Chair, Professor Ed Morse of the University of North Carolina–Charlotte, are expert metrologists who always seek to share the importance of precision measurement with members…
Belinda Jones
TheEndoftheEndGame
It wasn't so long ago that metrology and inspection were reserved for the end of the manufacturing process. Metrologists were often considered to be a necessary evil, a harbinger of bad (or good) news, and in some cases, the unfortunate person who explained after a first article…
Mike Richman
For any of you who missed it, CMSC 2019 was, as always, a first-class conference with loads of great content, exciting new product and service offerings, and numerous unique opportunities for knowledge transfer with the leading metrologists in industry and academia.
Taking place July 22–26 at the…
Belinda Jones
Women who crashed the glass ceiling in male-dominated fields have compelling stories about the trajectory of their careers. These days, I think a lot about those inadvertent role models, thankful for their determination to pursue big dreams so I could pursue mine. Trailblazers like Dr. Bonnie…
Fringe projection techniques offer fast, noncontact measurements of the surface form of manufactured parts. Fringe projection has seen successful implementation in the automotive, aerospace, and medical industries. Recently, advances in fringe projection have reduced the sensitivity of the…
Belinda Jones
Change is the only constant in life.” This quote is attributed to Heraclitus, a very influential Greek philosopher from the late sixth century BCE. His time-honored words still hold true in 2019, and change indeed continues to shape the metrology industry. The dynamics of the marketplace are…
Matthew Ilardo
I am looking forward to another year serving the community of the Coordinate Metrology Society. I would like to encourage our metrology membership to revel in your accomplishments, and expand your horizons in 2020 by taking on something new. Every year the CMS strives to expand its content,…
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…
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…
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…
David H. Parker
A 154-page report by Moreu and LaFave in 2012 explains unique problems railroad bridge engineers must contend with. The gross weight of cars went from 200,000 pounds to 263,000 pounds in the 1970s, and to 286,000 pounds in 1991. The ratio of live to dead loads are much greater for railroads than…
