Check out the August 2020 edition of Quality: The future of manufacturing, NDT, automation, calibration, edge break analysis, how to attract the next generation of engineers and much more!
Driven by the need to make parts faster, better, and for less, manufacturers of all sizes are embracing various forms of automation in the quest to lower costs, increase production, and reduce response times.
As baby boomer engineers retire from manufacturing, younger generations aren’t rushing in to fill their shoes. Rapidly changing technology has created greater demand for new skills among shrinking pools of talent, just as reshoring efforts promise to make domestic manufacturing even more robust.
This is why the field’s well-documented skills gap will only widen.
Demand for accurate parts delivered on tight schedules is increasing. To keep pace, technology is continually advancing, enabling manufacturers to do more in the same amount of time.
The precision length calibration process is very much like any length measurement process, but taken to a significantly higher level. Both processes are composed of the same elements.
Recent developments and improvements in testing equipment, sensors, and knowledge have led to a significant increase in high speed and high rate material testing efforts.
Cars have become such an integral part of our lives. A car has long passed the point of being a necessary means of transportation, now becoming a symbol of independence and free-mobility, and sometimes even an expression of our personality.
Some time ago, I spoke to a group about organizational culture. Considering what is happening today it might be appropriate to present a few thoughts to a broader audience. Each person can determine how it might apply to their circumstances.
It’s hard to know what’s next. This remains true in business and in life, and it feels especially true right now. The news seems to change on a daily and hourly basis. Predictions about the pandemic can seem out of date within a few days.
About twenty years ago I was asked to make a presentation on calibration to a meeting of a local chapter of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories.
I’m a Type-A personality with a sense of urgency to explain everything. Give me a little data, and I will use every statistical tool I can wrap around these rationalizations to help explain an observation. But here is something that I cannot explain: why do we tolerate such poor gages?
A company with a highly developed culture of quality spends, on average, $350M less annually fixing mistakes than a company with a poorly developed one (Harvard Business Review, 2014).
Almost every industry has seen explosive growth in additive manufacturing (AM or 3D printing) of metal components, either for prototyping or low to medium volume manufacture of often high value and safety critical parts.
Helium is in short supply and its cost is rising. Global sources may even run dry by the end of the century. And yet, it remains the dominant choice for trace-gas-based leak-testing on the production line. How can you make the most of this increasingly precious commodity for your critical quality assurance needs?
Since the early 1990s Lithium ion batteries have entered industrial markets as energy storage technology for mobile consumer electronics and battery-operated tools.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a nondestructive testing method that has been around for over 100 years. It is used in many industries and it has several specific applications that are very critical. So, what is it and how does it work?
Radiographic inspection is a critical practice across multiple industries, and the development of non-film radiography provides enormous, yet currently untapped, potential to share these images widely and maximize resources.
Consumer products have been transformed by the Internet of Things (IoT), the ability of smart connected devices to communicate and share information with each other. Now, IoT technology is expanding to NDT maintenance inspections and manufacturing QA/QC.
The National Association of Manufacturers released the results of the Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2020 showing that despite a historic drop in optimism, to nearly 34%, and challenging business conditions, the vast majority of manufacturers (98.7%) have continued or only temporarily halted operations.