Ask a quality engineer how they were introduced to metrology or inspection, and they’ll often answer that it wasn’t during their coursework, but in the field. It reflects the manufacturing world’s problem with visibility and messaging, and an important insight into why the term “skills gap” has been a buzzword for several years.

A common example: “It was my first job out of college,” recounts Jim Spichiger, ASQ Inspection Division chair. “I was employed by the Army as a product assurance engineer. I had no idea what that meant. They hid the word ‘quality.’ But it was guaranteeing product assurance. I worked on missile warheads, and that led to me back to in the regular world working as a quality engineer, and here I am now a certified Six Sigma black belt.”