All Features
NIST
After it’s all over, your lights will be just as bright, and your refrigerator just as cold. But very soon the ampere—the base unit in the International System of Units (SI) for electrical current—will take on an entirely new identity. In 2018, the SI base units are scheduled to be re-defined in…
Quality Digest
Three special shows were broadcast LIVE from booths of our marketing partners at IMTS in Chicago. Each episode covered events of the show and demonstrations of our partners' latest products.
• Tues., Sept. 13: 3D Systems' Geomagic 3D Inspection Software for first-article and production inspection…
NIST
NIST scientists have devised and modeled a unique optical method of sorting microscopic and nanoscopic particles by size, with a resolution as fine as 1 nm for particles of similar composition.
A stream of particles of various sizes enters the system at a single point, but the particles exit the…
Greg Anderson
Government and commercial insurers are transforming payment systems from a fee-for-service reimbursement model to arrangements that include incentives for quality, outcomes, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced cost.
In the fee-for-service environment, hospitals, physicians, and other…
François Leclerc
Color is a big differentiator in the world of 3D scanning, but when it comes to inspection or reverse engineering, it’s usually not mandatory and sometimes not even important. However, color is paramount in applications such as heritage preservation, which is the 3D scanning and digitization of…
Amir Grinboim
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence recently released the latest system in its 3D optical scanner portfolio, the BLAZE 600M. The solution is similar to structured light but comprised of a blended combination of technologies that allow it to be faster and more accurate than traditional structured-…
Keith Bevan
Understanding the benefits of having sound knowledge, perspective, and the appropriate skill sets in metrology is just as crucial in today’s technological world as it was 50 years ago. The same goes for key decision making based on solid processes, procedures, methods, and data analysis. Taking…
Belinda Jones
A year ago, at the 2015 Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC), the PrecisionPath Consortium for Large-Scale Manufacturing started its journey toward building a sustainable, industry-driven coalition that continues to attract the brightest minds in manufacturing and metrology. The recent…
Third Dimension
(Third Dimension, Bristol, UK) -- Executive TV is excited to announce Manufacturing Change, the latest addition to their ongoing series of industrial documentaries exploring the United Kingdom’s manufacturing sector and its future. This program features Bristol-based Third Dimension, experts in…
API Services
Although it sank more than 150 years ago, the USS Monitor has an everlasting place in history.
As one of the first of the so-called "ironclads," the Monitor, along with its Confederate Army foe, the CSS Merrimack, fought to a draw at the Battle of Hampton Roads, VA, on March 9, 1862. From that…
Dimensional measurement has been used as a part of manufacturing systems for many years. However, although shop floor measurement equipment can be used next to a manufacturing machine and its measurement data can be digitally interfaced to change some manufacturing parameters, machine tools…
Eugene Daniell
Sponsored Content
For more than 30 years, Hendrick Motorsports has consistently been one of NASCAR’s most successful teams. In the course of winning a record 11 Sprint Cup Series championships, Hendrick Motorsports has learned that it must innovate constantly to stay ahead of the competition.…
Patrick Nugent
Sponsored Content
A simple fact in manufacturing is that everyone has to measure. However, when precision is the ultimate goal, measurement is not simply about inspection, it’s about process control. Manufacturers need the right tools to increase quality, maximize productivity, and, ultimately, to…
Fred Schenkelberg
Spending too much on reliability and not getting the results you expect? Just getting started and not sure where to focus your reliability program? Or, just looking for ways to improve your program?
There’s not one way to build an effective reliability program. The variations in industries,…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
In today's hyper-competitive, fast-paced manufacturing world, there is rarely anything like a "routine" day at the office—especially when you're a tier-one supplier for some of the largest aerospace companies in the world. To make the grade and satisfy this kind of demanding…
Michael Huda
Speaking the language of color isn’t like telling someone your name and expecting him to remember it. Our minds just don’t process color like that.
While vague color descriptions are sufficient for many people—“Turn left at the blue house” or “Choose the reddest strawberries”—if you work in an…
Evan Miller
Sponsored Content
The CIO for a multiplant packaging company was in an uncomfortable spot. Bringing six newly acquired plants under the corporate umbrella was going smoothly, but he saw that at least in quality systems, there would have to be an unpopular change. The plants were using two…
Anthony Vianna
Sponsored Content
Every bicycle frameset used at the Tour de France (and any machine raced at any UCI-sanctioned bicycle event for that matter) is validated by the Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI). Enabling this intensive process is a bike measurement system based on a ROMER Absolute Arm from…
Tim Mouw
When visually evaluating color, everyone accepts or rejects color matches based on their color-perception skills. In manufacturing, this subjectivity can lead to confusion and frustration between customers, suppliers, vendors, production, and management.
This is why color-measurement devices are…
Right now, scientists all over the world are trying to understand how we get injured when our bodies are subjected to strong, dynamic loads—a hard body-check on the hockey rink, a tackle on the football field, a car crash, or even a bomb blast. Fortunately, I haven’t had any experience with bomb…
Jarred Heigel
I research additive manufacturing, which some people call solid free-form fabrication, but most people know as 3D printing. Additive manufacturing covers a wide range of processes that we can use to build parts and whole structures by strategically adding material only where we need it.
Building…
ISO
The global food industry has never faced more challenges. From tainted dairy products to contaminated beef, high-profile cases crop up regularly to dent consumer confidence, while leading companies work hard to reclaim lost faith. So how trustworthy is your food?
Food safety is something we tend…
Henry Zumbrun
There has been some misunderstanding about the intent of ASTM E74—“Standard practice of calibration of force-measuring instruments for verifying the force indication of testing machines.” When it was written back in 1974, the standard’s intent was to establish calibration traceability back to…
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
An improved titanium alloy—stronger than any commercial titanium alloy currently on the market—gets its strength from the novel way atoms are arranged to form a special nanostructure. For the first time, researchers have been able to see this alignment and then manipulate it to make the strongest…
Ryan E. Day
Sponsored Content
In the most basic terms of engine exhaust theory, more flow equates to more performance. The aim is to improve the efficiency of your vehicle’s engine, boost performance, and save money on fuel. Auto-jet Muffler Corp. has implemented that “improved flow = improved performance”…