Compared to CMMs and articulating arms, laser trackers constitute a fairly young technology. In use for about 30 years, these increasingly portable and flexible devices are known for measuring large objects by determining the positions of optical targets, usually spherically mounted retroreflectors (SMRs) that a technician holds up against the objects.
Long-time quality professionals agree: the industry is not the same as when they started. No longer are quality managers seen as the police officers of the plant, checking to make sure nothing has gone wrong.
For medical device manufacturers, having a product that functions as designed is critical, as a person’s health—or even their life—could be at risk. It’s one thing if my Alexa won’t respond to a voice command to remind me of a task, but it may be life threatening if my asthma inhaler won’t give me the medication I need when I’m struggling to breathe.
Not long ago, IT integration projects were an intimidating task due to the historic number of failed projects. This is not the case today because the technology exists and when combined with proper implementation they are very successful.
The time is the late 1960s. Detroit muscle cars roam the streets. Woodstock is just around the corner. Passenger air travel is growing at an unprecedented rate.
Using readily available tools such as graphs, tolerances, comments, and test criteria ensures that the required tensile information is on hand when needed.
For a robust quality environment to exist and prosper there has to be teamwork. However, there are misunderstandings about the team of teamwork. For many organizations, it means launching and maintaining teams for isolated projects to improve various outputs.
Many times, in the world of quality, there are resources available that are unknown to many of our colleagues. One of these resources is the standard ISO 10012: 2003, “Measurement management—Requirements for measurement processes and measuring equipment.”
This is an area of gage making that takes something simple like a go/nogo plain plug gage and adds another feature for another check, such as hole depth.
Within a metrology inspection environment, fixturing is a three-step process of positioning, locating and securing a workpiece within a measuring volume for inspection.
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is the most important industry you’ve never heard of. That’s how I typically start a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) demonstration.
Helium leak testing is one of the oldest and most developed members of the family of trace-gas-based leak testing methods. Even though the title contains the word “helium,” this article is intended as an overview of trace gas methods in general.
Well-trained NDT technicians using the right combination of ultrasonic techniques can improve plant reliability and worker safety.
June 8, 2019
It’s been nine years since a heat exchanger burst at an oil refinery in Anacortes, WA, fatally injuring seven workers and bringing renewed attention to the risks of high-temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA).
Over the last 10 to 15 years, NDT methods have grown smarter and smarter. New methods have been developed and old methods have been improved. Some of today’s NDT is leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be.
Advancements in technology continue to enhance the capabilities of all areas of industrial quality and process control, and this is certainly the case within the various disciplines of nondestructive testing (NDT).
According to the Compressed Air and Gas Institute (CAGI), the average compressed air system loses 30 percent of its air through leaks but locating those leaks has been a time-consuming and te-dious process.
Cal Test Electronics is introducing three new active probes to its comprehensive offering of differential oscilloscope probes. The three new probes provide unique features so users can find just the right one for their measurement application.
Brunson Instrument Company will launch STASIS, a mobile, agile scanning instrument positioner at Control 2019. The first-of-its-kind product allows all brands of scanning instruments up to 35 pounds to be positioned quickly and steadily anywhere within a 3-meter horizontal- and 2.1-meter vertical-range atop a sturdy, 4-wheeled Brunson base.