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Manufacturing
Daley Declares 1999 As
'Year of the Small Manufacturer'
Commerce Secretary William Daley today
proclaimed 1999 as the "Year
of the Small Manufacturer" in recognition of the enormous contribution small
manufacturers make to the nation's economy. Daley said, "We are proud that NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership is playing a key
role in helping these companies solve problems, increase productivity, and achieve higher
profits."
While small manufacturers are
critical to the U.S. economy, they are less likely than larger firms to know about and
implement technology and current manufacturing processes and business practices. MEP is a
nationwide network of over 400 manufacturing extension centers and field offices providing
business and technical assistance to small manufacturers in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico.
What kind of an impact is MEP
having on America's small manufacturers? The U.S. Census Bureau surveyed 4,412 firms
served by MEP centers in 1997. These companies reported an increase in sales of $236
million, a reduction of $31 million in inventory, and a savings of $24 million in labor
and materials. They also created or retained 6,755 jobs and invested more than $193
million in modernization. They attribute these results directly to the assistance provided
by MEP.
Throughout 1999, MEP will be
celebrating the achievements of small manufacturers. To find information on these
activities in the coming months, check out the MEP World Wide Web site at http://www.mep.nist.gov, or call (800) MEP-4MFG
(800-637-4634) to reach the nearest MEP center.
Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767 
Quality
'Baldrige Index'
Once Again Outperforms S&P 500
The "Baldrige Index" has, for the
fifth year in a row, outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500, this time by more than
200 percent.
The Baldrige Index is a
fictitious stock fund made up of publicly traded U.S. companies that have received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award during the
years 1988 to 1997. NIST "invested" a hypothetical $1,000 in each of the six
whole company winners--ADAC Laboratories, Eastman Chemical Co., Federal Express Corp.,
Motorola Inc. and Solectron Corp. (a winner in 1991 and 1997)--and in the S&P 500. The
investments were tracked from the first business day of the month following the
announcement of award recipients through Dec. 1, 1998.
NIST found that the group of six
whole company winners outperformed the S&P 500 by 2.6 to 1, achieving a 460 percent
return on investment compared to a 175 percent return for the S&P 500. NIST also
tracked a similar hypothetical investment in a group made up of the six whole company
winners and the parent companies of 17 subsidiary winners. The group of 23 outperformed
the S&P 500 by about 2.5 to 1, a 426 percent return compared to a 173 percent return
for the S&P 500.
For further information on the
new study, go to the following address on the World Wide Web: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/stockstudy.htm.
For information on the previous studies, go to: http://www.quality.nist.gov/crit2.htm.
Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Materials
Solidification
Sensor for Turbine Blade Castings Developed
Jet engine manufacturers are concerned
about the temperature and stress performance of their system's turbine blades. One way to
ensure high performance is to monitor the blades as they are being cast to ensure
single-crystal growth. NIST's Materials
Reliability Division in Boulder, Colo., developed a transmission X-ray diffraction
sensor that precisely locates the boundary between a liquid metal and a solidifying
crystal while they are still in a casting mold.
Although X-ray diffraction
monitoring has been tried before, the NIST system is unique because it employs high X-ray
energies that can sense the physical state of the casting through a thick ceramic mold and
within a vacuum furnace.
This NIST research group recently
published a detailed, illustrated report that describes the sensor system. It covers the
theory of X-ray interactions with matter, models of X-ray transmission diffraction, the
apparatus used for high-energy transmission diffraction, and describes a number of
diffraction experiments.
The project started in 1994 as
part of the NIST Consortium on Casting of Alloys, a government-industry-university
collaboration with the goal of improving the quality and reducing the cost of aerospace
castings through advances in materials science.
For a single, free copy of the
report, High-Energy, Transmission X-Ray Diffraction for Monitoring Turbine-Blade
Solidification (NIST Technical Note 1500-3), contact Dale W. Fitting, MC853.07, NIST, Boulder,
Colo. 80303-3337; (303) 497-3445.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Weights and Measures
Diggs to Become
NCWM Chairman at 84th Annual Meeting
G. Weston Diggs, the program supervisor for
product and industry standards at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, will be installed as chairman of the National Conference on Weights and
Measures at the
conference's 84th Annual Meeting in Burlington, Vt., July 25-29, 1999. Diggs serves on the
NCWM Inc. Board of Directors and the National Type Evaluation Program Committee. He also
is a member of the National Type Evaluation Technical Committee Weighing Sector and
chairman of the Strategic Planning Work Group on the NCWM Inc. Business Plan.
NCWM is a standards-writing
organization of more than 3,500 state, county and city weights and measures officials and
representatives of industry, federal agencies, many foreign government agencies and
consumer groups. The organization is, in part, self supporting and, in part, sponsored by
the NIST Office of Weights and
Measures.
For information on the NCWM and
the 84th Annual Meeting, contact the organization at 15245 Shady Grove Rd., Suite 130,
Rockville, Md. 20850; (301) 258-9210; fax: (301) 990-9771; or visit the NCWM web site at http://www.nist.gov/ncwm. Questions on the technical
agenda of the Annual Meeting should be directed to the NIST Office of Weights and
Measures, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2350, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-2350; (301) 975-4004; fax:
(301) 926-0647.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy, (301) 975-4403
Data
NIST's Rumble
Elected President of CODATA
John Rumble, Jr., chief of the Standard Reference Data Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was
recently elected president of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology.
Established in 1966 by the International Council for Science, CODATA seeks to improve the
quality, reliability, processing, management and accessibility of data of importance to
science and technology.
At NIST, Rumble oversees more
than 35 data activities that cover the full range of physical science and
engineering. Prior to joining NIST in 1980, he was at the Joint Institute for Laboratory
Astrophysics (now JILA) in Boulder, Colo., and subsequently at the International Atomic
Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. He has been active in developing scientific database
standards, including an international standard for industrial data exchange. He also has
helped build several online property data systems.
Further information on CODATA is
available on its web site: http://www.codata.org/codata.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy, (301) 975-4403
Metals
New Apparatus
Measures Thermal-Barrier Coatings Better
NIST researchers in the Materials Reliability Division, Boulder,
Colo., have developed an apparatus to measure the thermal conductivity of thermal-barrier
coatings (known as TBCs) as thin as 20 micrometers. TBCs—used in aerospace materials,
gas turbine engines and diesel engines—are thermal coatings applied to metal
substrates to protect these substrates from high temperatures and excessive wear or
corrosion.
Accurate measurement of thermal
conductivities is critical before new coating systems can be incorporated into advanced
engineering designs and future applications. For example, engineers want to keep lowering
thermal conductivities so that TBC thickness can decrease as well.
The NIST device uses an infrared
microscope to measure temperature differences on millimeter-sized specimens. The small
size of the specimens allows the measurements to be made in air—rather than in a
vacuum—which simplifies the apparatus needed. Another advantage is the non-contact
nature of the infrared temperature measurement. Any contact between a sensor and a small
specimen would affect the specimen’s temperature.
For a copy of paper 1-99
describing the thermal conductivity measuring device, contact Sarabeth Harris, MS104, NIST, Boulder, Colo.
80303-3337; (303) 497-3237.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Visiting Committee
Report Praises NIST
Programs for 1998 Accomplishments
The Visiting Committee
on Advanced Technology, NIST’s primary private-sector
advisory board, has released its annual report that evaluates
the agency’s 1998 performance of its mission to work
with U.S. industry to promote economic growth. The report,
which is submitted to the Secretary of Commerce for transmittal
to Congress, reviews and makes recommendations regarding
the general policy, organization, budget and programs
of NIST.
In the report, the VCAT calls the
NIST Measurement and Standards
Laboratories "... the finest anywhere, as they must be." The committee
states that it supports NIST’s efforts to modernize its facilities and backs the
proposed construction of the Advanced Measurement Laboratory in Gaithersburg, Md. The
committee also reiterates the National Research Council’s assessment that "many
NIST programs are well-tied to industry, and the staff effectively outreach their
technical peers in both industry and academia."
The VCAT report also commends the
1998 successes of NIST’s other three major programs—the Advanced Technology Program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Baldrige National Quality Program. The committee
"believes that the ATP is a well-managed program ... where collaboration often pays
substantial benefits to the companies participating...." It noted that the MEP
"is making a significant difference to a growing number of small and mid-sized
manufacturers...." and "is a valuable program for the nation." And the
committee says that it looks forward to the expansion of the BNQP to the education and
health care sectors because they are "communities that can benefit greatly from the
focus on quality inherent in the Baldrige Program."
Finally, the VCAT 1998 Annual
Report recognizes the importance of NIST’s role as a leader in the international and
domestic standards arenas, especially concerning the creation of a national standards
policy. The committee members note that "... the approach NIST is taking toward
achieving a consensus within the standards community on a U.S. strategy is constructive
and appropriate."
Single copies of the VCAT 1998
Annual Report are available by faxing a request to NIST Public Inquiries, (301) 926-1630,
or sending an e-mail message to inquiries@nist.gov.
Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
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