MTConnect Institute Signs Agreement with DMSC

I am very pleased to announce that, as President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute, I signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) with  Curtis W. Brown, President of Dimensional Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC).  Paul Warndorf, VP of Technology and CTO for AMT, did all the smart and hard work to make this a reality.


What is metrology?  As wikipedia states:

Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. The word comes from Greek μέτρον (metron), "measure"^[1] + "λόγος" (logos), amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason".^[2] In Ancient Greek the term μετρολογία (metrologia) meant "theory of ratios".^[3]

 Why is this MOU important?

This MOU is very important because DMSC has invested in a tremendous amount of hard work in metrology, just like we have in the open and royalty free protocol called MTConnect.  In my opinon, the combination of DMSC and MTConnect is the absolute perfect marriage.   The goals of this joint effort are:

1. To generate freely accessible standards and specifications which enable interoperability and enable more tightly integrated production and quality in manufacturing.
2. To enable compliant implementations of those standards and specifications.
3. To freely distribute the standards and specifications resulting from the joint effort to any party with a material interest in those standards and technologies, including manufacturing companies, suppliers, distributors, end users, technology providers, software developers, independent software developers, value added resellers, system integrators and trade media organizations.
4. The principals will Principals will communicate how joint efforts can be used to improve manufacturing and business effectiveness, efficiency and quality

 Here are important aspects of metrology - again from wikipedia:

Mistakes can make measurements and counts incorrect. Even if there are no mistakes, nearly all measurements are still inexact. The term 'error' is reserved for that inexactness, also called measurement uncertainty. Among the few exact measurements are:

• The absence of the quantity being measured, such as a voltmeter with its leads shorted together: the meter should read zero exactly.
• Measurement of an accepted constant under qualifying conditions, such as the triple point of pure water: the thermometer should read 273.16 kelvin (0.01 degrees Celsius, 32.018 degrees Fahrenheit) when qualified equipment is used correctly.
• Self-checking ratio metric measurements, such as a potentiometer: the ratio in between steps is independently adjusted and verified to be beyond influential inexactness.

All other measurements either have to be checked to be sufficiently correct or left to chance. Metrology is the science that establishes the correctness of specific measurement situations. This is done by anticipating and allowing for both mistakes and error. The precise distinction between measurement error and mistakes is not settled and varies by country. Repeatability and reproducibility studies help quantify the precision: one common method is an ANOVA gauge R&R study.

Calibration is the process where metrology is applied to measurement equipment and processes to ensure conformity with a known standard of measurement, usually traceable to a national standards board.