Quality articles from February 2005

Quality archives from February 2005

Answer to shortage at hand.(From The Publisher)
February 1, 2005... A recent visit to Quality Online's reader forum to gage some of the topics of interest, left me baffled. A topic that surfaced a number of times was the search for qualified technicians to operate advanced equipment. One visitor was looking for...

Coming events.(Industry News)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... * Random Vibration and Shock Testing, Las Vegas, Feb. 23-25. Equipment Reliability Institute, (805) 564-1260. * Six Sigma Advanced Tools Workshop, Somerset, NJ, Feb. 28-March 4. Stat-A-Matrix Institute, (800) 472-6477. * Houstex 2005,...

Mahr and OKM sign contracts.(Industry News)(Optische Koordinatenmesstechnik )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... GOETTINGEN, GERMANY -- Mahr, manufacturer of measurement instruments and high-precision cylindrical parts, acquires a 56% holding in Optische Koordinatenmesstechnik (OKM), a Jena, Germany-based company. Managing partners of both companies...

Quality adds two new members.(Industry News)(Rebecca Hennessy and Maggie McFadden )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... BENSENVILLE, IL -- Quality magazine has added two new members to its staff. Rebecca Hennessy has joined as editor and Maggie McFadden is the new associate editor. Both bring extensive experience to the magazine and Thomas Williams, publisher of...

The Light Microscopy Division of Carl Zeiss (Thornwood, NY) with the Sohard (Furth, Germany) software company won first place in the 2004 .NET Solutions Competition for "Best .NET Project.".(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Light Microscopy Division of Carl Zeiss (Thornwood, NY) with the Sohard (Furth, Germany) software company won first place in the 2004 .NET Solutions Competition for "Best .NET Project." The competition was organized by Microsoft.

Juran Institute.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Juran Institute (Southbury, CT) makes available its "Quality Minutes" series case study examples in both a subscription series and on DVD. The series is sorted into six topics and offers 98 case study examples, covering planning,...

Precise Connections Inc.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Precise Connections Inc. (Duncanville, TX) achieves ISO 9001: 2000 certification. The contract manufacturer and electronic services provider celebrates its 20th year in business.

Dresser Instruments.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Dresser Instruments opens a calibration and repair center for Ebro Instruments at its Stratford, CT-based facility. The center will support recalibration certification of the brand traceable to either NIST or DKD.

Valenite Inc.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Valenite Inc. (Madison Heights, MI) opens its first sales and customer service office in China. The new office, located in Shanghai, will sell the company's full line of cutting tools and inserts.

Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel) joins the UGS Partner Program. UGS, a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, established the partner program to provide clients with complete PLM solutions....

Agile Software Corp. (San Jose, CA), a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, joins Adobe Systems Inc. in an agreement to jointly develop solutions based on Agile PLM and the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform.(Business News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Agile Software Corp. (San Jose, CA), a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, joins Adobe Systems Inc. in an agreement to jointly develop solutions based on Agile PLM and the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform. Agile will...

Instron Corp.(Business News)(new facilities)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Instron Corp. is building a new worldwide headquarters in Norwood, MA. The headquarters is located on a 50-acre wooded site and will include a customer center, an expanded application lab, training center and calibration center. The project is...

Fastco Threaded Products Inc.(appointed Edward Conroy and Nicholas Pressley )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Fastco Threaded Products Inc. (Columbia, SC), a fastener distribution company, appoints Edward Conroy as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Nicholas Pressley as chief information officer.

Smiths Aerospace.(appointed Dr. Oliver Towers)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Dr. Oliver Towers is appointed vice president, strategy of Smiths Aerospace (Clearwater, FL). Towers is based out of the company's London office and will be responsible for strategic planning, market forecasting and analysis.

Nilfisk-Advance America.(appointed Jessica Abel )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Nilfisk-Advance America (Malvern, PA) promotes Jessica Abel to marketing communications manager. Abel has been with the industrial vacuum cleaner manufacturer for four years. In her new role, Abel will be responsible for strategic planning,...

Imagineering Finishing Technologies (IFT).(People News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Angela Gean becomes a quality technician for Imagineering Finishing Technologies (IFT). Gean will assist in management of the South Bend, IN-based company's quality procedures and certifications. In addition, IFT names Roxanne Gunter as...

TUV America.(People News)(appointments)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... TUV America (Danvers, MA) adds four account executives to its sales team. Melissa Steelman joins as an account executive for medical/health and management system service sales in the southeastern region of the United States. Penny Guy, David...

Metalform '05 full of activities.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... CLEVELAND -- This year's metalforming industry exposition and conference, sponsored by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), will be held in Rosemont, IL, at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center from March 20 to 23. Celebrating...

Machine-tool consumption reaches four-year high.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... MCLEAN, VA -- U.S. machine-tool consumption (USMTC) reached $389.2 million in September 2004, an increase from the $222.86 million reported in September 2003, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the...

Metalforming industry expects improvement.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... CLEVELAND -- The Precision Metalforming Association's (PMA) December 2004 report shows that 50% of metalforming companies sampled believe the general economic activity will remain the same over the first quarter of 2005. Of the 164 metalforming...

Leica Geosystems receives award.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... NORCROSS, GA -- Frost and Sullivan, a New York-based growth consulting firm, awarded the 2004 Industrial Automation Product Innovation of the Year award to Leica Geosystems. The industrial metrology applications manufacturer received the award...

In memoriam.(Industry News)(Obituary)
February 1, 2005... William W. Barnard, Ph.D. died in 2004. For more than 18 years, Barnard trained management in a variety of industries on implementing quality processes at the Juran Institute. In recognition of his contribution to the field of quality,...

American Measuring Tool Manufacturers Association.(Association News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The American Measuring Tool Manufacturers Association (AMTMA) announces its 2004-2005 officers. George J. Schuetz is elected as president. John E. Mead is named vice president and Norman C. Leduc is named secretary and treasurer.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Petroleum Institute and CSA America form the Consortium on Standards and Conformity Assessment.(Association News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Petroleum Institute and CSA America form the Consortium on Standards and Conformity Assessment. The consortium plans to establish an...

Variation as a continual improvement tool: introducing variation can be a powerful strategic business tool when coupled with innovative methods.(Probing The Limits)
February 1, 2005... Imagine a system that purposefully introduces variation into key processes as a quality improvement technique. To quality professionals, the idea of encouraging variation is counter to fundamental quality improvement theory, but one food...

The right instrument for the job: a shopping list can help determine determine if a new instrument is suitable for the job.(Other Dimensions)
February 1, 2005... When faced with a measuring problem, the first task is to reach for a catalog of measuring instruments. This leads down a path of sorting out characteristics of several instruments that appear to be suited for the application. Too often, a key...

Amplifier offers benchtop gaging solutions: an advanced multi-function gage amplifier can ensure the quality of a product.(Quality 101)
February 1, 2005... For years, conventional analog meters have been capable of reading extremely small dimensions. But new benchtop gage technology brings both analog and digital amplifying capabilities to an easy-to-use, advanced level. Benchtop gages,...

Collapsing tents.(quality brain teasers)
February 1, 2005... Anyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve it 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 workers in...

World-class microscope expands the view: large-chamber scanning electron microscope allows for nondestructive examination of full-size components.(Quality Innovations)
February 1, 2005... Have you ever wanted to take a large-chamber scanning electron microscope (LC-SEM) for a test run? You just might if you've ever wanted to know why that aircraft turbine blade cracked, whether that new material actually improves pacemakers or...

Don't forget fixturing: fixturing can be overlooked when purchasing coordinate measuring machines and vision systems.(Quality Measurement)(Cover Story)
February 1, 2005... When it comes time to buy a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) or a vision system, fixturing often is overlooked until the equipment is on the floor and parts need to be measured. To avoid delays, fixturing should be addressed while the project...

See the forest and the trees: evolving from simple devices to sophisticated instruments allows manufacturers to see the whole picture.(Quality Test & Inspection)
February 1, 2005... Recent advances in optical imaging, computers and wireless communications are creating a new digital-to-data revolution that affects how products are manufactured. Digital products are everywhere. Devices such as cell phones, PDAs, jump drives,...

APQP: not just for document creation: collaboration and accessibility play a key role in the success of an APQP system.(Quality Software & Analysis)(Advanced Product Quality Planning)
February 1, 2005... Historically, quality managers have purchased Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) software to reduce time spent creating related documentation. The goal was to get the documents to customers in the format they required and still have a...

Problem solving through the lean lens: lean lens allows work to be designed so that problems become visible and rise to the surface.(Quality Management)(Lean manufacturing)
February 1, 2005... Lean manufacturing has been surrounded by many misconceptions and myths over the past 10 years. While there are many erroneous ideas on lean, one misnomer is that it is about speed and not about problem solving. The truth is that lean is all...

Automobile testing achieves shorter downtimes.(Case Studies)
February 1, 2005... Volkswagen AS (Dresden, Germany) was looking for a calibration solution that would lead to shorter downtimes and transport times. The German automaker turned to Leica Geosystems' metrology division (Norcross, GA) and its LTD700 laser tracker...

SPC solution manages quality of diesel fuel injectors.(Case Studies)(statistical process control)
February 1, 2005... Siemens Diesel Systems Technology (SDST, Richland County, SC), a joint venture between Siemens Automotive Corp. and NLP Inc., a subsidiary of International Truck and Engine Corp., needed a statistical process control (SPC) software solution to...

Turning system.(Products)
February 1, 2005... The Valturn Progrip turning system has seven grades and 14 top-form geometries for turning cast iron, steels, stainless steels, aluminum and high-temperature alloys. The product has an interchangeable tool holder system, which allows the same...

Pneumatic deburring tool.(Products)
February 1, 2005... The Flexdeburr 340 is a radially compliant tool that satisfies many robotic and automated deburring applications. The product has an air-turbine motor and spindle arrangement, designed for removing flash and parting lines on die cast parts. It...

Interferometer.(Products)
February 1, 2005... The white light interferometer (WLI) is an optical measurement system that measures surface topography without contact. The WLI measures surface profile, roughness, step height and microstructure. The system includes a compact microscope-type...

Measurement and reporting software.(Products)
February 1, 2005... The PC-DMIS gear measurement software works with any coordinate measuring machine. The software has gear-specific tools including rules-driven forms, wizards and pre-defined routines. The product automates spur and helical-gear measurements...

3-D scanning software.(Products)
February 1, 2005... Scanworks software interprets three-dimensional data from a sensor to define shapes and contours in applications such as prototyping, reverse engineering and production validation. The software acquires data at more than 23,000 points per...

Handheld ultrasonic flaw detector.(Product Review)
February 1, 2005... The EPOCH LT is a truly handhold, affordable ultrasonic flaw detector designed specifically for applications that don't require highly specialized features and documentation capabilities found in larger units. It's smart and easy to use, and...

New Lynx VGA210--fast, smart, flexible.(Product Review)
February 1, 2005... Imperx--LYNX IPX-VGA210-L is a VGA resolution, fully programmable, field upgradeable camera, built around Kodak's KAI-0340 interline transfer CCD. The camera delivers 210 frames per second at full 640 x 480 resolution. The camera features...

Throw your hand gages away.(Product Review)
February 1, 2005... New Sprint CNC 300 from RAM Optical is an automatic, video measurement system that features a large 12" x 12" x 8" XYZ travel range, yet conveniently fits on a benchtop. Sprint CNCs are full-featured dimensional measurement systems for...

Vision systems integration & automated inspection machines.(Product Review)
February 1, 2005... Online and offline turnkey inspection systems using Cognex, DVT and Omron vision for a wide variety of products. Systems typically include the vision applications engineering, camera(s), lighting, pass/fail indication, data collection, bad part...

Edmund Optics releases new January 2005 catalog.(Product Review)
February 1, 2005... Edmund Optics' new January 2005 optics and optical components catalog contains over 7,000 products to assist in your demanding applications. Over 200 new products to this catalog include Near-IR Neutral Density Filters, RazorEdge[TM] Longpass...

Business process analysis software.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... The iGrafx 2005 process analysis products are a breakthrough for companies seeking to gain competitive advantage through process excellence. This sweeping new release offers organizations the most comprehensive process analysis functionality...

Statit e-QC: enterprise-wide quality software.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... Statit e-QC is a dynamic Web-based application focused on providing the critical information and analysis needed to make process improvement decisions. Statit e-QC provides real-time access to multiple data sources from a Web browser while...

PHASCOPE[R] PM10.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... Fischer Technology offers a complete line of coating thickness measurement, material analysis, and material testing instrumentation including calibration and re-certification. For more information on the PHASCOPE[R] PM10 or any of the Fischer...

Meyer Gage reduces the cost of better accuracy.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... (South Windsor, CT)--James Meyer of Meyer Gage announced today that the company is now offering class "Z" plug gages at the same price as the "ZZ" class of gage pin. The Z tolerance gage, which will give users twice the accuracy, is available...

$18K leak detection.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... For $18,000 you get a full-featured Heliot 700 helium leak detector with color touch screen featuring onscreen maintenance and troubleshooting capabilities. Rotary Vane Pump--$18,000 Dry Diaphragm--$19,995 Large Rotary...

Statistical process control software.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... WinSPC Plant Monitor automatically displays the status of plant-wide data collection operations on a single screen in real time and/or historically (by week, shift, etc). Display all production activity and alarms using the color-coded...

OGP SmartScope Quest 650 now capable of five-axis measurement.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... SmartScope[R] Quest[TM] 650 dimensional measurement system takes multi-sensor metrology to the next level with heavy duty dual rotary indexer and five-axis capability, dual cameras for rapid magnification changes, high-speed linear-motor-driven...

LaserGauge[R] for dimensional measurements.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... A programmable, non-contact system for precise dimensional measurements, the Laser-Gauge is battery-powered for true portability. Surface scans are plotted in real-time, and the results are displayed and saved to a file automatically. One...

Even faster ... if speed is the task.(Product Review)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... Precitec Optronik offers two different CHRocodiles: The Sensor CHRocodile E based on halogen technology and the CHRocodile X with Xenon technology. The Xenon technology provides a significantly higher luminous power enabling the maximum...