Featured Stories

RSS

Traditional flexible fixtures used on coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) can hold most parts, but some complex, geometric parts with multiple levels and steps, cannot be held by standard CMM fixtures.

Most factory operations will likely never become 100% paperless.

In the inspection workplace today, hundreds of different metrology applications and software tools exist that, at best, can only marginally work together and share inspection data.

Progressive Tool & Manufacturing Inc. (Greensboro, NC), a precision tool maker, is finding that customers are increasingly demanding shorter lead times.

Many manufacturers rely heavily on outside metrology laboratories to tell them that their processes are where they should be.

Keeping up with paperwork is key to ISO certification, but it is also one of the biggest hassles for manufacturers.

Kudos to Detroit. And at the same time, a caution.

While Six Sigma is the livelihood of some companies, it is eschewed by others who claim it's just another fad.

"The goal at Ford is to present customers with vehicles that have a 'factory fresh look,' no matter where in the world those customers are located," declares Farzin Ghodsi, Consumer Driven Six Sigma Black Belt at Ford Motor Co.'s Worldwide Direct Market Operations.

While a number of concerns must be addressed, many manufacturers have successfully moved coordinate measuring machines from the lab to the factory floor.