Edward McMenamin

In the near future, critical aerospace and automotive production parts may indeed come from a 3D printer. The technology’s potential is huge, agrees ASTM Fellow Steven Daniewicz.

For years, traditional thinking was that CMMs belonged in a lab. While in many cases that’s still necessary, many machines work quickly and accurately on the shop floor, offering multiple measurement applications in environments varying in both cleanliness and temperature.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew, and really understand the methodology before attempting a large Six Sigma project. Those are the first words of advice for a Six Sigma novice from Six Sigma Master Black Belt John Vandenbemden.

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.

Cost of quality is often misunderstood, improperly measured, and underutilized.

High-energy, large-format industrial CT scanning allows for feasible inspection of larger parts.

Anyone active on Facebook and Twitter in 2015 likely remembers the argument over the color of a blue and black dress. 

Modern manufacturers collect mountains of data every day. But how much of that data is ever studied, beyond the small percentage that raises red flags?

The Trump Administration’s contentious relationship with Mexico, possible changes to trade agreements and its public focus on American manufacturing has led some to reconsider moving jobs south-of-the-border. But what’s often lost in the rhetoric and public relations arm wrestling is the growing trend of nearshoring.

As far as origin stories go, the technology behind helium leak detection is more glamorous than most. That is, when compared to the bubble test, a method many will remember experimenting with during childhood after a popped bicycle tire.