Quality articles from February 2002

Quality archives from February 2002

Last resort? (From The Editor).(Statistical Data Included)(Editorial)
February 1, 2002... Heads rolled last year in American factories. According to Labor Department reports, U.S. manufacturing lost 1.3 million jobs in 2001. Many of those losses came when large manufacturers decided that mass layoffs of factory workers were needed...

Coming events.
February 1, 2002... March * 10th Annual Conference on Quality in the Space and Defense Industries, Cape Canaveral, FL, March 4-5. Aviation/Space and Defense Div. of ASQ, (254) 776-3550. * South-Tec Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, March 5-7. SME, (800)...

Get back on track. (Industry News).
February 1, 2002... The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has provided cost-saving and productivity-increasing measures for small businesses that can impact companies' bottom lines. "For many small business owners, there is never a right time to invest in...

Torrmetal Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Torrmetal Inc. (Cleveland) has achieved ISO 9002 registration.

ProActivity Inc.
February 1, 2002... ProActivity Inc. (Newton, MA) has joined the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals as an affiliate member.

Express Manufacturing Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Express Manufacturing Inc. (Santa Ana, CA) has been selected by Innova Electronics Corp. (Fountain Valley, CA) to build its distributorless ignition system tester.

BSI Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... BSI Inc., a member of the BSI Group (Reston, VA), has received AS9100 registrar accreditation from the National Accreditation Program.

Optical Gaging Products Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Optical Gaging Products Inc. (Rochester, NY) has relocated its Tempe, AZ, regional technical center into a larger facility and has expanded the center's services. The facility allows the company to provide product demonstrations, customer...

Air Squared Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Air Squared Inc. (Hamilton, OH) has opened a facility in Broomfield, CO.

Mistras Holdings Group.
February 1, 2002... Mistras Holdings Group (Princeton Junction, NJ) has acquired Vibra-Metrics Inc.

Blue Mountain Quality Resources Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Blue Mountain Quality Resources Inc. (State College, PA) is offering on-site validation service. The company will go to a facility and validate its Calibration Manager software and Calibration Manager modules.

Q-Panel Lab Products.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Q-Panel Lab Products (Cleveland) has opened the doors to its new international headquarters. The facility houses administration, research and development, and manufacturing.

Qualtech Systems Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Qualtech Systems Inc. (Wethersfield, CT) has been named to the Deloitte & Touche and Connecticut Technology Council Fast 50 Program for Connecticut, a list of the 50 fastest growing technology companies for the state. Rankings are based on...

Mitsubishi strives for quality. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (Tokyo) has lengthened total vehicle development time by 10 months to improve quality. Going from 30 to 40 months from the start of development to the sale of a car allows for greater focus on developing product...

Bridgestone quality VP retires. (Industry News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The vice president of quality assurance at Bridgestone/Firestone (Nashville, TN), Robert J. Wyant, retired after 36 years with the company. Stephen W. Brooks will fill the position. Wyant will continue to serve as consultant to the company. ...

ViTechnology LLC.
February 1, 2002... Edgar Cerda has been appointed technical sales engineer for ViTechnology LLC (Haverhill, MA).

HTG Metal Methods.
February 1, 2002... Keith Lane Moore has been hired as a process engineer for HTG Metal Methods (Frankfort, KY).

Royal Products.
February 1, 2002... Tom N. Jerry has joined Royal Products (Hauppauge, NY) as manager of business development.

BORN.
February 1, 2002... Gene A. Wright has joined BORN (Minneapolis and Milwaukee) as a manufacturing practice leader.

Intertek Testing Services.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Pat Sweeney has been appointed vice president of the North American quality management systems registration business unit of Intertek Testing Services' ETL Semko division (Boxborough, MA).

Ditool.
February 1, 2002... Eric Krueger has been promoted to project manager of sales at Ditool (Racine, WI).

National Instruments.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Ray Almgren has been named vice president of product strategy at National Instruments (Austin, TX).

Spectronics Corp.
February 1, 2002... Nancy Clausen has been appointed marketing specialist at Spectronics Corp. (Westbury, NY).

The Modal Shop Inc.
February 1, 2002... Gail Stultz has joined The Modal Shop Inc. (Cincinnati) as a product manager of the quality test product group.

Cabletest Systems.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Paul Marino has been appointed to vice president of operations at Cabletest Systems (Markham, Ontario, Canada).

Peer Inc.
February 1, 2002... Douglas Millet and Richard Perlberg have joined Peer Inc. (Waukegan, IL) as sales engineers.

Non-Destructive Testing Group Inc.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Robert C. Bills became owner of Non-Destructive Testing Group Inc. (Caledonia, MI), where he also holds the position of president and CEO.

An operator's dilemma. (Sophronia's Solutions).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... 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 have three parts: (1) the situation, (2) available data or other supporting...

Magic made with fixtures. (Quality Innovations).
February 1, 2002... Traditional flexible fixtures used on coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) can hold most parts, but some complex, geometric parts with multiple levels and steps, cannot be held by standard CMM fixtures. That is why many manufacturers maintain...

Plug-and-play, the DMIS Part 2 way: a new open architecture standard could reduce manufacturing process errors by using inspection results in real time. (Quality Measurement, Test & Inspection).
February 1, 2002... In the inspection workplace today, hundreds of different metrology applications and software tools exist that, at best, can only marginally work together and share inspection data. In addition, tens of thousands of coordinate measuring machines...

Graduate to an accredited laboratory: the path to metrology lab accreditation is a rigorous one, but both the organization obtaining accreditation and its customers reap the rewards. (Quality Management)(Cover Story).
February 1, 2002... Many manufacturers rely heavily on outside metrology laboratories to tell them that their processes are where they should be. So you've found a lab that offers a good price, but how do you know that the lab is doing a good job? Maybe it is time...

Not your father's SPC: statistical process control is becoming a key component of new factory systems that can boost product quality, while providing direct links from the shop floor to the boardroom--and beyond. (Quality Software & Analysis).
February 1, 2002... Over the past year, the accessories division of Black & Decker Corp. has changed its entire approach to quality control. This division, which makes blades for power saws and other tools at its Tampa, FL, plant, no longer relies on inspectors to...

Document control software: less paper, time and scrap. (Case Studies).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Most factory operations will likely never become 100% paperless. But at Controlled Power Co. (Troy, MI), the use of PC-based document control software has so far enabled the firm to slash paper usage by about 40%, while also saving time and...

A height gage of many uses. (Case Studies).(Progressive Tool & Manufacturing Inc. product)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Progressive Tool & Manufacturing Inc. (Greensboro, NC), a precision tool maker, is finding that customers are increasingly demanding shorter lead times. But at the same time, those customers are not willing to sacrifice quality. "More and more,...

CMM interface.(advertisement)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ARCO CAD Plus is an on-line interface to the Silma CIM Station off-line coordinate measuring machine programming software. ARCO CAD Plus uses DMIS 4.0 as its native language and provides direct interfaces to such programs as CATIA, UG, Ideas...

Height gage.(advertisement)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Altissimo Platinum height gage has a [+ or -] 0.0003-inch accuracy. The gage, an upgrade from the Altissimo Height Gage, has a 24-inch range, which is extendible to 30 inches, and has an ergonomically shaped base with built-in hot key that...

Electronic caliper.(advertisement)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Dura-Cal IP6S digital electronic caliper has stainless-steel measuring jaws and a magnetic scale that is sealed against liquid or dust penetration. The IP65 classification means that it can be used to work in wet or dry environments. The...

Noncontact thickness gauge.(Elcometer 550)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Elcometer 550 noncontact gauge measures the thickness of uncured powder coatings. It has a measurement range of 1.2 to 4.3 mil and a display resolution of 0.1 mil over this range of thickness. The accuracy of measurement is [+ or -] 0.2...

Hardness testers.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Portable hardness testers come in standard and superficial models, from 1 to 8 inches in thickness measurement. All testers comply with ASTM Standard E-110 for testing hardness in Rockwell scales. No conversion is needed. Electro Arc...

Scale.(ENC 250 scale)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ENC 250 scale uses reflective steel technology and sensors. Resolution is 5 microns per 0.0002 inch with an accuracy of [+or -] 10 microns per meter. Travel lengths are between 10 to 65 feet. The scale comes with Position-Trac software. The...

Miniature force gage.(Series MG)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Series MG is a 500-pound digital force gage that is 3.7 by 2.5 by 1.5 inches. The gage has a multifunction 4 1/2 digit LCD with a set of annunciators for peak force indication, units of measurement and low-battery indication. Accuracy is [+ or...

Hardness tester. (Material Test).(VMHT Auto Mot microhardness tester )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... VMHT Auto Mot microhardness tester can interface with Q550MW materials workstation software for precision measurements. The tester has an automated turret and automated stage. It has comprehensive test forces that allow testing to ASTM, DIN,...

Video measurement system.(SmartScope ZIP )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... SmartScope ZIP is a benchtop unit with zoom optics, multiple illuminators and high-resolution video camera. An autocalibrating zoom lens gives a wide range of programmable magnification. The unit includes the MeasureMind metrology software...

Machine vision camera.(GP-MF622 camera )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... GP-MF622 camera has high-speed shutter operation with a wide range of machine vision applications. It has a 1/2-inch interline transfer that produces 570 lines of resolution with a minimum illumination of 6 lux. Shutter speeds range from 1/60...

Rework and repair station.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The rework and repair station has several configurations depending on the application. A dual-height conveyor lets operators buffet up to two boards for in-process rework and repair, while error free boards proceed to the next assembly point....

Looking at Lean manufacturing: a never-ending battle, lean manufacturing focuses on greater production efficiencies. (Quality Online).(The Lean Enterprise Institute )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... As manufacturers struggle to adapt to the changing economic climate in order to survive, many are looking at their applications to determine a better way to do things. Lean manufacturing focuses on creating greater production efficiencies...