Quality articles from August 2003

Quality archives from August 2003

Open your company 'wallet'. (From The Editor).(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... Have you looked at your paycheck lately? Pull it out again and look at your net pay. With the recent tax law changes, the federal government is letting me keep more of my money. Not much more, but I think I can go out to eat a couple more times...

Coming events. (Industry News).(Calendar)
August 1, 2003... SEPTEMBER * Design of Experiments, Chicago, Sept. 8-9. Affiliated Educational Consultants, (773) 262-8140. * Conference on Materials and Processes for Medical Devices, Anaheim, CA, Sept. 8-10. ASM International, (440) 338-5151. *...

Metrology, inspection market to grow 12%. (Industry News).
August 1, 2003... NEW TRIPOLI, PA--The metrology and inspection equipment market is expected to grow 12% annually to reach revenues of nearly $4 billion in 2005, according to a report from The Information Network, a market research company. The market is...

Pratt & Whitney Measurement Systems Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Pratt & Whitney Measurement Systems Inc., formerly Pratt & Whitney Metrology Division Siemens, has moved to a new facility at 66 Douglas St., Bloomfield, CT 06002. Phone: (860) 286-8181; fax: (860) 286-7878.

ITT Industries, Cannon, (Santa Ana, CA) has licensed Advanced Interconnect Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... ITT Industries, Cannon, (Santa Ana, CA) has licensed Advanced Interconnect Inc. (Franklin, MA) as a value-added reseller of optical connectivity solutions.

Thorlabs Inc. (Newton, NJ) and Wells Research & Development (Lincoln, MA) have partnered to develop a new lens testing system. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Thorlabs Inc. (Newton, NJ) and Wells Research & Development (Lincoln, MA) have partnered to develop a new lens testing system called the OpticStudio lens testing system.

Portage Plastics Corp. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Portage Plastics Corp. (Portage, WI) has earned ISO 9001: 2000, ANSI ASQC Q9001: 2000 compliance and has been registered by Entela Inc.

Rockwell Automation. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee) was awarded Intel Corp.'s 2002 Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement award.

Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Nashua, NH), sold $211,000 in licenses of its eMPower Execution Systems to Creation Technologies (Toronto). The systems will be used to collect circuit board assembly and box build failure data, replacing its...

SigmaPro. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... SigmaPro (Fort Collins, CO), a provider of Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma, and Lean Sigma systems, has opened an office in Monterrey, Mexico, and Mexico City, Mexico.

JIT Global Enterprises Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... JIT Global Enterprises Inc. (Apollo, PA) has achieved certification to ISO 9001: 2000.

Apriso Corp. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Lockheed Martin has selected Apriso Corp.'s (Long Beach, CA) software to track labor statistics.

Physik Instrumente (Karlsruhe, Germany) has acquired GSG Electronics GmbH. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Physik Instrumente (Karlsruhe, Germany) has acquired GSG Electronics GmbH (Munich, Germany).

Helwig Carbon Products Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Helwig Carbon Products Inc. (Milwaukee) celebrated its 75th anniversary in June.

Druck Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Druck Inc., a unit of GE Druck (New Fairfield, CT), is distributing the full line of ASL temperature instruments in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Geotest-Marvin Test Systems Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Geotest-Marvin Test Systems Inc. (Irvine, CA) has added Advance-Tech Controls to its international sales distribution team.

Teltronics Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Teltronics Inc. (Sarasota, FL) has received ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Santa Barbara Infrared Inc. (Business News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Growth has necessitated the move to a 25,000-square-foot facility for Santa Barbara Infrared Inc. (Santa Barbara, CA).

North American CMM sales fell 20% in 2002. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... ANN ARBOR, MI--Coordinate measuring machine (CMM) sales revenue was down 20% in 2002 compared to 2001, and 22% fewer units were shipped, according to the Metrology Automation Association (MAA). Data from members, of MAA show CMM sales for the...

Hydraulic Institute. (Association News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... The Hydraulic Institute (HI) has named David McKinstry, vice president of business development for IMO Pump (Monroe, NC), its 2002 Member of the Year. The award was presented to McKinstry during a closing dinner at HI's 86th annual meeting....

National Institute for Metalworking Skills. (Association News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... A formal ceremony at the Aberdeen Proving Ground officially recognized the accreditation of the U.S. Army Ordinance Mechanical Maintenance School's machinist training program by the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS). In...

National Tooling and Machining Association. (Association News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Larry Sippy, president of Sipco Molding Technologies (Meadville, PA) was installed as 2003 chairman of the National Tooling and Machining Association earlier this year at the association's annual convention. Approximately 100 companies attended...

Study reveals quality trends in manufacturing. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--As manufacturing companies transform existing quality management systems and environmental management systems to meet new standards and improve cost savings, quality organizations are tasked with ensuring that transitions are...

Manufacturing base good for jobs, and the economy. (Industry News).
August 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--While manufacturing has been the engine for healthy economic growth and good jobs, intense global competition and the rising cost of doing business in the United States threaten manufacturing's capacity to maintain the nation's...

IDW call for papers. (Industry News).(International Dimensional Workshop)
August 1, 2003... The 2004 International Dimensional Workshop, scheduled for May 10 to 14, 2004, in Nashville. TN, has issued a call for papers. The theme for IDW 2004 is Dimensional Metrology for Functional Control. Title and abstract are due to Ed Pritchard,...

Manufacturers optimistic about economy. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--A recent study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) found that orders are on the upswing and that various positive trends are setting the stage for stronger economic growth later this year that will include an...

Automated Precision Inc. (People News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Dennis Kaczmarek has been named southeast regional sales manager, and Andrew Hart has been named north central regional sales manager for Automated Precision Inc. (Rockville, MD).

Nylok Corp. (People News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Kent Lambertsen has been appointed production manager and Gina Shephard has been named inside sales manager at Nylok Corp.'s plant in Arlington, TX. The company appointed Marie Rodriguez as inside sales representative at its Lincolnwood, IL,...

USC Consulting Group. (People News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Stefan Sheckells has joined USC Consulting Group as an analyst based in Philadelphia.

TUV America. (People News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Paul Shores has joined TUV America as an account executive. He will operate out of the company's Orlando, FL, office.

Apexon Inc. (People News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Richard Nieset has been named vice president of sales at Apexon Inc. (San Jose, CA).

QVI, CyberOptics sign licensing agreement. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... ROCHESTER, NY--Quality Vision International Inc. (QVI) of Rochester has signed an agreement with CyberOptics Corp. (Minneapolis) for the technology transfer and licensing of digital range sensor technologies. The Optical Gaging Products...

The 'musts' of a cal lab report: Oak Ridge tells manufacturers what to expect in their calibration reports. (Quality Special Report).(calibrationl aboratory)
August 1, 2003... As an accredited calibration laboratory, the Oak Ridge Metrology Center (ORMC), a Department of Energy facility operated by BWXT Y-12 LLC, has certain expectations relative to calibration reports. In simple terms, the expectation is that the...

Wake up ASQ! If the American society for quality is to live up to its potential, it has to face its problems. (Probing The Limits).(American Society for Quality)(Column)
August 1, 2003... The American Society for Quality (ASQ) is an association for quality professionals. The group has hemorrhaged members for five years and the leadership seems to be denying that this is a problem that they "own" I'm a supportive member of ASQ,...

The case for uncertainty: like a financial budget, an uncertainty budget identifies costs and savings. (Other Dimensions).(Column)
August 1, 2003... Every time a new quality scheme is announced, I prepare myself for the initial, inevitable onslaught of consultants ready to impart their expertise, for a price, and take me from the "dark" into the "light" regarding my company's quality...

Decipher control charts: a practical example of common cause and special cause variation aids in the understanding of control charts. (Training Trends).
August 1, 2003... Control charts are used to monitor processes and ensure the processes are in control, but all processes are subject to degrees of variation. Most of the variation is inherent in the process and the surrounding environment and is referred to as...

Diagnostic reliability. (Quality Brain Teasers).
August 1, 2003... Everyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve the problem by using production data can relate to the notion of a brain teaser. The brain teasers presented here are based on real-world situations that are encountered by...

Noncontact CMMs laser into 3-D: conoscopic holography is key to new multisensor system. (Quality Innovations).(Acu-Gage Systems)
August 1, 2003... Since the three-axis touch-probe coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and the 2-axis video CMM were invented, each style of machine has occupied its own gaging niche. But now, technology is beginning to blur these niches.' Touch-probe CMMs...

Machine vision goes beyond sight: new machine-vision solutions make gaging easy, affordable and accurate. (Quality Measurement)(Cover Story).(Cover Story)
August 1, 2003... Gaging the location of a car hood in a robotic workcell was the task of the machine-vision system. A car manufacturer had a requirement in which car hoods would be brought in for final assembly and 50 to 100 of the hoods would be stacked on...

Mirror life reflects testing extremes: to ensure a long product life, automotive mirrors endure the rigors of "shake-and-bake" tests. (Quality Test & Inspection).
August 1, 2003... When superstitious people break a mirror, they think seven years of bad luck. But when the test lab team at Schefenacker Vision Systems USA Inc. (Marysville, MI) breaks one, it usually means the company has verified the mirror will have a...

3-D and GD&T takes a concept to production: using 3-D and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing early in the new product process can eliminate costly changes. (Quality Software & Analysis).
August 1, 2003... How many engineering print changes does a company typically do on a given project? For that matter, how many are done on an average piece part and what does each print change cost the project? Engineering changes can cost between $1,000 and...

Small companies see the money: a nontraditional approach to continual improvement helps smaller companies achieve financial results similar to those of larger corporations. (Quality Management).
August 1, 2003... Six Sigma has been defined as a tool kit or a set of techniques, based on statistical process control (SPC), that can help companies make major improvements in product quality. The Six Sigma goal of 3.4 defects per million, the standard +1.5...

Sensors inspect sidewalls. (Case Studies).
August 1, 2003... With tire specifications becoming tighter, the need for faster, more sophisticated and more accurate quality inspection for tire uniformity and appearance is critical. The sidewall inspection process, for instance, must detect all suspect...

MNP sorts out options. (Case Studies).
August 1, 2003... MNP Inc. (Utica, MI), one of the largest suppliers of automotive fasteners, recently made a strategic decision to implement 100% sorting to nearly all of its parts. MNP already performed 100% sorting on some parts, but wanted to improve on...