Quality articles from January 2001

Quality archives from January 2001

Better Than 5 Years Ago.(manufacturing equipment industry)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Shortly after U.S. automakers reported their first downturn in 1 1/2 years, analysts began murmuring whether the economic boom of the past several years was coming to a halt. A Dec. 4, 2000, article in the Wall Street Journal used this premise...

CONTACT QUALITY.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Editorial Contributions If you have information you'd like the editors to consider for a future issue, here's who to contact and how to reach them. The editorial office mailing address and fax number are shown at the top of this page. ...

QUALITY ONLINE January.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... IDW 2001. Click on the "IDW 2001" link art Quality Online for more information on the International Dimensional Workshop 2001. The metrology exhibition and workshop is May 7 to 10 in Knoxville, TN. It is cosponsored by Oak Ridge Metrology...

Online Forums Answer Questions.(metrology and engineering Web sites)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Got a metrology, reliability, engineering or quality-related question that you need answered? Visiting one of the four forums listed in this month's Web site review may help you find the answer. http://www.eng-tips.com. This Web site allows...

Need Some Help?(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2001... This month, Quality Online visitor Jim needs some help. Here's his query: "We do in-house calibration for measuring such things as barometers. We need a reference standard for these items: tolerance, accuracy and repeatability. I am...

Feedback.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2001... From "Reader Forum" visitor Salmi. Q: How can a Quality Control System be designed for a production of about 500 pieces per year? An answer came from Quality Online visitor Joe. A: There are a number of ways, but 100% inspection is...

QUALITY Survey of the Month.(company-related New Year's resolutions)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... What is a new year without some kind of promise to make things different or to change the way things are done? Throughout November, Quality Online visitors were asked about their company-related New Year's resolutions. Fifty-four percent...

Brown and Sharpe Sold to Swedish Company.(Hexagon A.B.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Hexagon A.B. (Stockholm, Sweden) will purchase most of Brown and Sharpe's (North Kingstown, RI) worldwide metrology business. The metrology business is made up of the Measuring Systems Group, headquartered in North Kingstown, RI, and factories...

January Quality Archives.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... 1962 Quality Assurance magazine, the precursor to Quality magazine, is launched. 1967 Some things haven't changed. Reprinted from a speech by T. Robert Fiddler, president of Frederick Atkins Inc.: "It is not enough to produce a quality...

Global Test Agreement Passes.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... To improve international trade and reduce the testing of imported products, 36 laboratory accreditation bodies from 28 countries have signed an agreement to promote the acceptance of technical test and calibration data for exported goods....

Business News.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Hertzler Systems Inc. (Goshen, IN) and Minitab (State College, PA) are working to build a seamless interface between Minitab and Hertzler's GainSeeker software suite. The interface will help reduce the costs associated with gathering and...

Quality Expo Celebrates 20 Years.(Quality Expo International)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Quality Expo International (QEI), the world's largest trade show and conference dedicated to quality assurance and product reliability in discrete manufacturing, celebrates its 20th anniversary April 24 to 26 at the Donald E. Stephens...

EMS Industry Continues Growth.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry has passed the $50 billion mark in annual revenues and should grow an estimated 61% during 2001, according to Bill Cage of First Union Securities. The growth can be attributed to expansion...

Association News.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The Manufacturing Execution Systems Association has two new members. Unifi Technology Group LLC (Charlotte, NC) applies proven methodologies for system change to the technical and logistical challenges manufacturers face when moving to...

GE Buys Honeywell.(General Electric Co.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... General Electric (GE, Fairfield, CT) will buy Honeywell (Morristown, NJ) in a deal worth $45 billion. Jack Welch, GE chairman and CEO, will postpone his long-planned retirement to oversee the transition. Welch said Honeywell's core group of...

CSA Releases Standard.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... CSA International of Canada, the Underwriters Laboratories of the United States and Asociacion Nacional de Normalizacion y Certificacion del Sector Electrico of Mexico have published the first harmonized trinational standard for low-voltage...

Sony Sells Plants.(Miyagi, Japan and Kaohsiung, Taiwan)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Sony (Tokyo) has embraced manufacturing outsourcing and has agreed to transfer two of its plants to Solectron (Milpitas, CA). The plants in Miyagi, Japan, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, produce automobile satellite navigation systems, car audio systems...

Adept Opens Service Centers.(Adept Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Adept Technology Inc. (San Jose, CA), a manufacturer of industrial robots, has opened two new sales and service centers. The offices, located in Charlotte, NC, and Dallas, support the company's growing business in the fiber optic,...

U.S. Laboratories Acquires Moore Consulting.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... U.S. Laboratories Inc. (San Diego), an international quality control specialty services company, has acquired Moore Consulting, a geotechnical and environmental firm. Roy E. Moore, founder of Moore Consulting, will join U.S. Laboratories as...

CR Technology and Aegis Partner Up.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... CR Technology (Aliso Viejo, CA) has entered a partnership with Aegis Industrial Software (Philadelphia). The companies will adapt Aegis' CircuitCam software for CAD, Gerber and ASCII Centroid for automatically training CR's X-ray and optical...

Mecmesin Relocates Headquarters.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Newton House is the new international headquarters of Mecmesin Ltd. (West Sussex, UK). Manufacturing capacity will increase threefold for the force and torque measurement specialists.

CMM Procedures Released.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... VDI/VDE 2617 Guideline, Part 5.1 describes practical procedures for monitoring coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) while using artifacts that ideally lend themselves to routine verifications in ongoing processes. The section details the...

People News.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Kevin V.G. Bevan has been appointed vice president and general manager for the U.S. activities of Cincinnati Machine's (Cincinnati) Value Machine Business. Dan Nierste is the vice president of sales in North America for the Agie Charmilles...

Comparing Measurement Methods.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Traditionally, brain teasers are thought of as puzzles to solve using logical thought process in a sequential manner. Everyone who is faced with using the current data available in their organization will relate to this notion of a brain...

Green Marks the Measuring Spot.
January 1, 2001... If manufacturers across the country have one common complaint it is they can't find enough qualified employees. It does not matter what industry or region of the country, businesses have struggled to find trained employees who can step right in...

Multisensor CMMs Add Flexibility.
January 1, 2001... By adding noncontact sensors to coordinate measuring machines, manufacturers add flexibility but lose some accuracy. A traditional coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is more accurate than a noncontact optical system, but is slower and can't...

Data in the Palm of Your Hand.
January 1, 2001... Portable data collection can offer timely, accurate information. Palm-sized computer sales are booming as are its uses for discrete manufacturers who are taking advantage of new software and applications that have been devised for these...

Get a Fine Finish for All Your Holes.
January 1, 2001... Modern drills make smooth holes in one pass and eliminate expensive secondary operations. Philip Crosby, one of the original quality gurus, could have had drilling in mind when he said, "Quality is free." Given the right tool and correct...

Know What Your Gages Are Measuring.
January 1, 2001... With hundreds, if not thousands, of gages in use on the shop floor, an effective calibration system is essential. Calibration is the comparison of a standard of a known uncertainty to another measurement tool of unknown certainty to detect,...

Document Control Key in QS-9000 Requirements.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Automotive OEMs work in a fast-paced marketplace where quality, safety, regulatory and business standards are increasingly stringent. Automotive parts supplier, Del-Met (Nashville) was faced with the daunting task of establishing a new method...

Testing Caps With Digital Force Gage.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Reducing customer complaints and tightening the manufacturing process was the driving force for the Kerr Group's (Bowling Green, KY) decision to improve its tensile testing. But the manufacturer of plastic injection molding got a benefit it...

Perfect `Timing' on ID/OD.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Measuring inner and outer diameters of plug gages requires meeting a certain level of accuracy, and BorgWarner Morse TEC (Ithaca, NY), a manufacturer of automotive timing components, felt it wasn't consistently meeting those levels using a...

NEW PRODUCTS.
January 1, 2001... REPLY 100 SPC software Synergy 2000 LE is a 32-bit statistical process control program. The software delivers real-time data on a Windows-based operating system. It has customizable screen displays, reports up to eight charts per...

Fill the Gaps.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... College graduates have book smarts but lack hands-on experience. Maybe the company is large and has had college recruits lined up outside the door since Thanksgiving. Or maybe it is a small business that is just beginning the recruiting...