Guest Column | Jérôme Lopez
Manufacturing + Quality: Why Ignoring Gaps in Quality Infrastructure Could Stifle Innovation
Failing to address any gaps could potentially put the quality infrastructure at risk of being considered an obstacle to innovation.
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We live in a time where face-to-face interactions and human involvement are no longer the norm. Products and services we use as well as systems we rely on become increasingly complex and digitalized and in its scale, scope and complexity, this transformation is unprecedented.
Technologies are already an integral part of the present industrial processes and business models, they transformed the supply chains, they continue integrating the business models and industrial processes at all levels, while assurance of the quality and safety of these systems is needed more than ever.
The Quality Infrastructure (QI) provides the foundation underpinning development, quality and safety assurance. It relies on an interconnected system covering metrology, standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment and market surveillance. For instance, the advantages of standardization in boosting economic efficiency and enabling access to global markets rely on the ability to make precise measurements and verify that products meet the specified standards. Accreditation adds an additional level of confidence to these activities.
While industry and businesses have been quickly adapting to the new digital era, did the QI succeed to follow the pace and adapt quickly enough to remain relevant for the market, the consumers and the regulators in this digital area? Failing to address any gaps could potentially put the QI at risk of being considered as an obstacle to innovation – and thus reducing its relevance.
This topic will be discussed during a round table during the next CIM2025. During this round table, we will start by exploring what does the digital “QI framework” look like? Is the QI operating effectively and how it adapted to continue providing quality, trust and confidence in this digital world? We will conclude with a look at the future and discuss opportunities and challenges ahead of us and discuss how we can best approach them together.
The new edition of the CIM2025 - International Congress of Metrology will take place at the Eurexpo in Lyon from March 11 to 14, 2025, in parallel with the partner trade show Global Industrie. It will be chaired by Martin Milton, Director of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and will focus on the theme of “a new metrology for a sustainable industry and society”.
As usual, the program of the International Congress of Metrology is rich and gives the floor to all those involved in measurement. Over 200 presentations will be given at CIM2025, in eighteen oral sessions and two poster sessions. Speakers come from National Metrology Institutes, supplier and user companies, research centers and independent experts.
They will share their latest work with participants. Topics will range from digital transformation and the evolution of quality infrastructures, to the rise of quantum sensors and 3D data acquisition for robotized operations...
Several oral sessions will be dedicated to fundamental measurement fields: mechanical, dimensional, thermometry, hygrometry, electromagnetism, flow metering. Others will be devoted to fast-growing themes: the links between metrology and Artificial Intelligence, the digitization of metrology, the challenges of quality infrastructures.
During the plenary session, Cosimi Corleto, Managing Director of Stil Marposs, will present the Horizon Europe MARS project - Manufacturing Architecture for Resilience and Sustainability. This project aims to create a highly interconnected, intelligent manufacturing ecosystem based on cutting-edge technologies (AI, IOT, cloud computing, etc.).
The round table dedicated to quality infrastructures in a digital world will feature high-profile speakers:
Cristina Draghici - ISO / INTERNATIONAL
Sascha Eichstädt - Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt / GERMANY Hadi Hussain - ISO / INTERNATIONAL
Pierre Girault - France Qualité / FRANCE
Maureen Logghe - European Accreditation / INTERNATIONAL
Martin Michelot - TIC Council / INTERNATIONAL
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