Check out the June 2020 edition of Quality: The 2020 State of the Profession Survey, computed tomography, form measurement, surface metrology, the first Ask the Expert column from Quality and much more!
Specifications for surface texture frequently focus on surface “roughness”—the finer structures in the texture—often to the exclusion of the “waviness”—the larger structure of the texture. Unfortunately, problems related to sealing, vibration, noise, wear, etc., are regularly caused by issues hidden in the waviness domain, which cannot be captured by common roughness specifications.
For decades, quality, low cost, and on-time delivery have been the primary demands of manufacturing customers. Recently, a new demand has been added to the mix—speed. Customers still want a quality product delivered on-time at a fair price. Only now they want it faster.
Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), vision systems, the trusty micrometer—no manufacturer would argue the importance of traditional dimensional metrology equipment, but the fact remains that the tried and true sometimes comes up lacking.
As graduation season continues without any graduations—or rather, abbreviated ones online along with a cap and gown photo on your front porch—it reminds me of Anne Patchett’s graduation speech turned book, “What Now?”
All quality professionals, regardless of educational background and/or experience, will at times find a need to consult their network of resources to get answers to questions, determine how best to collect and analyze data, or resolve different interpretations of a given analysis. Recognizing this need, Quality is launching a new column entitled “Ask the Expert: An Interactive Q&A Section” with topics that come from readers.
Since change has been constant since the dawn of man, it might be reasonable to think that industrial management has the process institutionalized...but that simply is not the case, at least in many organizations.
Typical answers include: cheaper, faster, most accurate, none of which would pass a technical smell test. On reflection, many might say they want calibration to tell them if the item to be calibrated is any good or not while not defining what ‘good’ means from a technical point of view.
The COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and most of 2020 was unprecedented, and like all organizations ASQ was forced to take necessary precautions and make difficult decisions. Sadly this included the cancellation of the World Conference on Quality Improvement (WCQI), which had been scheduled for May 4-6 in Columbus, Ohio
Radiographs have been interpreted since Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen first observed the X-ray of his wife’s hand back in 1896. The process of radiographic interpretation consists of many variables with the major objective being achieving the highest possible quality level or sensitivity.
Nondestructive testing (NDT) is an extremely critical step in many industries. The safety of individual parts, entire systems, and even people can be directly tied to NDT.
As nondestructive examination (NDE) continues to evolve as an inspection discipline, so the technologies of NDE evolve to meet new challenges in terms of materials and material geometries to be inspected.
From e-vehicles to consumer electronics and implantable medical devices, standards and expectations for the quality and reliability of sealed devices and components continue to rise. This puts the burden on manufacturers to employ methods of leak testing that are objective, reliable and repeatable.
Nondestructive testing (NDT) encompasses a variety of test and inspection procedures that are used to find defects or inconsistencies in test samples without compromising the integrity of the parts.