All Features
Laura Studwell
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 6 U.S. citizens are affected by foodborne illness each year; the Public Health Agency of Canada estimates the figure at 1 in 8 Canadians. Both agencies state that illness can stem from either contaminated products or allergies relating to…
Russell Desilets
Companies purchase scales because the value of goods entering or exiting a facility is based on their weight. Without assured scale accuracy, a company can lose thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars annually.
Depending on the requirements and type of weighing device, annual…
Phil Wiseman
All the technical journals are abuzz with the changes to ISO 9001:2015. One significant paradigm shift is to a risk-based management approach. Most companies already apply risk-based thinking in their planning process for organizational management. This article will take a narrowly focused…
Larry Maggiano
Creating quality coordinate measuring machine (CMM) measurement programs takes time, and production cycles are often delayed while waiting for the measurement programs to be created. But software that works directly from model-based definitions can drastically decrease that time.
The move from 2D…
Bill Reilly
I have heard people say that geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) is a black art, and I agree—it can almost seem that way sometimes. My experiences in coordinate metrology throughout the past 20 years demonstrate a widespread lack of understanding, confusion, and even resentment for…
Patrick Runkel
Right now I’m enjoying my daily dose of morning joe. As the steam rises off the cup, the dark, rich liquid triggers a powerful enzyme cascade that jump-starts my brain and central nervous system, delivering potent glints of perspicacity into the dark crevices of my still-dormant consciousness.…
Christopher A. Brown
One of the primary objectives of surface metrology research, functional correlation refers to the relationships between surfaces and the phenomena that influence or are influenced by their topography. Surface topography is also called texture, particularly in mechanical and manufacturing…
NIST
Smartphones and tablets are everywhere, which is great for communications but a growing burden on wireless channels. Forecasted huge increases in mobile data traffic call for exponentially more channel capacity. Boosting bandwidth and capacity could speed downloads, improve service quality, and…
Anthony Vianna
Skeleton racing, a high-speed winter sliding sport, was born in Switzerland. The speeds achieved by racers hurtling down the track at more than 90 miles per hour would qualify them for a heavy fine for speeding on Switzerland’s motorways. “And not just that,” states Kristan Bromley, CEO of Bromley…
Patrick Beauchemin
There are several methods for inspecting laser-drilled and electrical discharge machined cooling holes on aircraft engine turbine blades, vanes, nozzles, heat shields, and other similar parts. These holes are essential features of the cooling systems that protect critical components against the…
Nikon Metrology Inc.
Kiekert AG, the global leader for automobile door lock systems, now uses digital cross scanners by Nikon Metrology to test the positions and dimensions of sealing lips on door and rear compartment locks. Tactile inspection methods are unable to correctly measure these touch-sensitive and complex…
Masashi Sato
In the manufacturing industry, it is ideal to ensure high manufacturing accuracy without the need for inspection. In fact, however, the inspection and the measurement processes are performed for various reasons, such as to secure the product traceability, to visualize the quality of production,…
GE has introduced a metrology package for highly efficient, extremely precise 3D metrology performed with computed tomography (CT). The company states the enormous efficiency benefits, the use of industrial CT for nondestructive failure and structure analysis, and 3D metrology (especially for…
Ron Rode
The upcoming 2015 Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC) will be held “beachside” this year in Hollywood, Florida, from July 20–24. Not only will you be able to swim in the beautiful Atlantic Ocean just steps away from the hotel, you will also be able to “swim” your way through the vast,…
Ultrasonic thickness gauging is a widely used nondestructive test technique for measuring the thickness of a material from one side. It's fast, reliable, and versatile, and unlike a micrometer or a caliper it requires access to only one side of the test piece. The first commercial ultrasonic gauges…
Dawn Keller
I really can’t make this stuff up.
I wrote a post a couple of years ago titled: “How to Talk to Your Kids About... Quality Improvement,” in which I lamented about Community Hero Day in my daughter’s first-grade class and the need to explain to her why I wasn’t at the “community-hero level” of…
NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers and their industrial partners aim to add a new dimension to manufacturing capabilities. In a new project, they will demonstrate the feasibility—and benchmark the advantages—of using standardized 3D models for electronically…
Stotz Gaging Co.
It’s a fact that air gauges are typically not in use approximately 90 percent (or more) of the time they’re in your shop or QC department. Because these gauges function by using clean and dry compressed air in a highly controlled flow, this relatively expensive commodity can cost your operation…
Gary Phillips
All manufacturing companies that get audited require some or all of their calibration certificates to specify the calibration uncertainty. At a minimum, some manufacturers only need certified uncertainty for gauges that are reference standards used to calibrate other gauges. Those companies…
Ryan E. Day
When auto manufacturers set out to create award-winning vehicles, much consideration is given to interior sound quality. Ironically, the manufacturers have been so successful in mitigating road noise they have inadvertently caused a new problem for themselves: Apparently, the cars are too quiet.…
Ron Rode
Several years back, I was asked this question: Does measurement software have the ability to determine scale without the use of scale bars? On numerous occasions in a variety of ambient conditions, I have tested and compared the results of initially setting up a system using temperature/material…
Hubert Meagher
Most manufacturing facilities have to manage the seemingly never-ending cycle of having to keep costs down while increasing production levels and maintaining high quality standards. Often, this ongoing struggle includes a reduction in staff and resources, and a lower-than-ever budget for…
The reconstruction of scenes from multiple images or video streams has become an essential component in many modern applications. Many fields, including robotics, surveillance, and virtual reality, employ systems to reconstruct a 3D representation of an environment in order to accomplish specific…
Gary Phillips
Every manufacturing company that gets audited, anywhere in the world, is required to do gauge repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) studies. In some cases, this one study is the only chance to find unknown problems with measurement quality. (When problems do occur, it is often downstream…
Robert Bellinger
The age of advanced digital microscopy is here—highly sophisticated image processing can now be performed with the same ease of use one would expect from a smartphone, tablet, or digital camera. Specifically designed for the needs of industrial QA/QC control labs, digital microscopes like the…
