Ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) is a versatile technique that can be applied to a variety of material analysis applications. While ultrasonic NDT is perhaps better known in its more common applications for thickness gaging, flaw detection and acoustic imaging, high frequency sound waves also can be used to discriminate and quantify some basic mechanical, structural or compositional properties of solids and liquids.
Computed tomography systems for industrial applications, such as R&D, production and quality, can see inside parts and quantify characteristics normally inaccessible to probing or optical sensors. The same dataset can be used to inspect the structure of material, such as porosity or wall thickness; measure external features; and generate fully surfaced or solid computer-aided design (CAD) models.
In the past, calibration and compensation have been considered strictly quality issues. Today, adopters acknowledge that calibration and compensation directly relate to substantial improvement in throughput because feed rates can be set higher when machines are known to be in tolerance. As a result, calibration and compensation of computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools is becoming routine, particularly in shops producing parts for the aerospace and medical industries.
Many industry sectors are complaining about offshore competition and its effect on North American manufacturing. To avoid a “protectionist” label the complaints are directed to a concept called the “level playing field.” What this implies is that the offshore folks are cheating at the game somehow or not following the same set of rules that we in North America have to follow.
Achieving excellence means producing units virtually defect free. I was practicing the target-driven manufacturing at a manufacturing company. As usual, the company has opportunities for improvement in different areas. For example, too much verification and inspection, too much variety in sample sizes or measurement frequency, high non-conformance rate, high defect rates, customer returns, excessive cost of customer service and the list goes on.
The 2008 elections are in full swing. Both the Republican and Democratic debates have been somewhat predictable. As I write this, voters in Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan are set to make their presidential primary choices. In all three states, as in many other parts of the country, people are concerned with the threat of, or actual, job loss.
Shimadzu (Columbia, MD) aims to match its “top of the line” testing machine, AG-X Autograph, with the right applications. Product manager Gilbert Vial says that their goal is to fit the machine to the application and create solutions, instead of products. Therefore, they will not try to sell this type of high-precision machine if the customer does not need a deluxe machine.
The world’s most inexpensive car was unveiled at the Ninth Annual Auto Expo in New Delhi, India, in January. Priced around $2,500, the Nano from Tata Motors caused quite a stir.
Omax Corp. (Kent, WA), a manufacturer of waterjet and abrasivejet systems, had called in an outside calibration service to correct linear accuracy issues affecting its machine tools. The value of this service was immediately clear; however, the cost incurred from the use of an outside service was quite high.
In September 2006, glass producer AGC partnered with the Juran Institute to launch an initiative to drive operational excellence and improve profitability. This initiative has been coined JPI (Jikko Process Improvement) by AGC and is based on the principles of Value Stream Management.
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