2025 April

Check out the April 2025 edition of Quality! Read our cover story on Quality's 2025 Professional of the Year, Dr. Ben Tomic. Read more features on automating CMMs, data diversity, an NDT special section, and much more!

Aerospace, Academia, and ASQ

Meet the 2025 Quality Professional of the Year: Dr. Ben Tomic

Dr. Tomic is a leader in many different fields of quality, from aviation to the American Society for Quality.

Michelle Bangert

March 19, 2025

Dr. Ben Tomic is our 2025 Quality Professional of the Year. With nineteen competencies on his CV and 50 skills on LinkedIn, he is a valuable asset as a certified quality engineer (CQE) or AS9100 lead auditor. He also highlights the importance of emotional intelligence in his work.

Engineers in factory hall, performing quality control. Manufacturing occupation in modern industrial hall, with automated process and robots. Metal processing industry and warehouse.

Management

Building HI, Human Intelligence, with People-Centric Leadership

The power of this approach is achieved when it becomes our natural response in any situation, whether we are innovating, collaborating, solving a problem, addressing a challenge, or giving or getting feedback.

Lisa Weis

March 19, 2025

Building HI, or Human Intelligence, through People-Centric Leadership empowers us to engage more effectively in innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving. When this approach becomes instinctive, it enhances our ability to tackle challenges and share feedback meaningfully.

Software

Data Diversity: A Connected Approach to Quality

It’s time to unlock the potential of metrology data.

Gina Strickland

March 17, 2025

In the fast-paced manufacturing industry, agility is vital for adapting to design changes. A centralized method for tracking modifications ensures team alignment, reduces miscommunication, and enhances productivity, fostering collaboration to keep up with innovation.

Hand shown using a typical A1038 comparative hardness testing machine

Test & Inspection

Portable Hardness Test Methods and When to Use Them

The most important step is to familiarize yourself with the limitations of the test method to avoid inaccurate results.

Tom Ott

March 16, 2025

Hardness testing, which began in the 1700s with Mohs' scratch test for minerals, evolved significantly by the early 1900s to focus on measuring the penetration of indenters under force. This shift led to the widespread adoption of three key methods—Brinell, Rockwell, and Vickers—standardized by ASTM International between 1924 and 1952.

Measurement

Automating Portable Manual CMMs

Closing the digital loop on arms, laser trackers, and scanners.

Scott Knoche

March 15, 2025

The evolution of 3D measurement systems has transformed manufacturing quality control, introducing portable CMM arms that combine precision, ease of use, and affordability.

Baseball sitting on top of a bat handle with a black background.

From the Editor | Darryl Seland

Versus: Two ends of the same spectrum

Darryl Seland

April 1, 2025

Years ago, I wrote a column discussing two baseball movies, Moneyball and Trouble With the Curve, which represented opposing views on the use of analytics in talent scouting within the sport.

Plant of the Year Guest Column

Beyond Compliance: How Quality Packaging Drives Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

While manufacturers invest heavily in product development, packaging is often viewed as secondary—until a failure occurs.

Shawn Pereira

March 14, 2025

Quality has become a strategic advantage in today's manufacturing landscape, especially in packaging. Minor quality variations can affect the entire supply chain. High-quality packaging protects products, reduces waste, and enhances efficiency, playing a crucial role in optimizing logistics and sustainability.

Virtual AI microchip with a blurred person in the background

NCSLI

The Application of AI in Conformity Assessments: Pros, Cons, and the Human Touch

While AI offers numerous benefits in this field, it also presents challenges to consider.

Patrick Jester , JD., CQA

March 13, 2025

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into conformity assessments has gained attention as technology advances. This article outlines the advantages and drawbacks of AI in conformity assessments, reviews case studies, and underscores the necessity of human interaction in the process.

Metrology Corner

Unusual Metrology: Revealing Less Common Measuring Instruments

Unusual Metrology

Emil Hazarian CCPE, MSQA – MSME Dipl. Ing.

March 13, 2025

We reveal some of the less common measuring instruments.

IAQG Column | Gaëlle LeBouar

The Evolution of Quality Standards: From ISO 9001 to the 9100 for Aerospace

These enhancements are critical for aerospace organizations, where precision, safety, and reliability are non-negotiable.

Gaëlle Le Bouar

March 11, 2025

Explore how ISO 9001 serves as the global standard for quality management systems, shaping practices across various industries. Discover the tailored 9100 standard that addresses the unique needs of the aerospace, aviation, and defense sectors.

Two professional technicians working in an industrial plant, one holding a tablet.

Face of Quality | Jim L. Smith

Data Integrity: Use quality tools and principles for greater data accuracy.

Jim L. Smith

March 8, 2025

When errors occur in manually entered data for project reports, it’s crucial to communicate with your supervisor and request more time to correct them. Acknowledging that mistakes happen, the priority should be on identifying and validating any unusual entries to ensure the report is reliable.

A couple is taking a bag of food at the food and clothes bank. Volunteers are working together at the humanitarian aid project.

Speaking of Quality | Jim Spichiger

The Selflessness of Service

I believe that one of the greatest things a human being can do is to serve others.

Jim Spichiger

March 8, 2025

Scouting instilled in me lifelong values of service and leadership. While I initially volunteered for personal gain in my professional career, my commitment to giving back to the quality community has grown over time.

Container ship transporting containers leaving the container port.

Column | Fellow Traveler

Supply Chains: Five-Fold Reconciliations

The Quality function should have a meaningful role in the qualification and selection of vendors.

Daniel Zrymiak

March 9, 2025

A robust supply chain should be successfully reconciled across five sources of information: Approved Vendors, Master Agreements, Transactions, Deliveries, and Payments.

NDT | XRF

Achieve RoHS Compliance

Uncover heavy metals, flame retardants, and phthalates with handheld XRF & FT-IR spectroscopy.

Mathieu Bauer Matt Bartucci

March 31, 2025

Regulations like the EU's RoHS Directive limit hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products to protect health and the environment. Similar laws exist in countries such as China and Japan, and several U.S. states restrict non-compliant products.

NDT | Ultrasonics

Scan Planning: Identifying Part Properties Effectively

When we start the scan planning process, we have to first identify the properties of the part that will be examined.

Shane Walton

March 29, 2025

Advanced ultrasonic testing techniques, such as Phased Array (PAUT) and the emerging Full Matrix Capture/Total Focusing Method (FMC/TFM), are transforming weld-quality examinations and are recognized in ASME and AWS codes. A crucial aspect of these methods is a comprehensive Scan Plan for maintaining testing quality and consistency.

An engineer monitoring a robotic CT scan and analysis system as it inspects a manufactured component. Image courtesy of Heitec

NDT | Computed Tomography

Real-time Quality Feedback Moves to the Active Production Line

Industrial CT-scanning systems and analysis software are providing faster insights into manufactured components.

Jan Gräser

March 18, 2025

The assembly line, introduced by Henry Ford in 1913, connects product quality to component integrity. Many manufacturers now use computed tomography (CT) for pre-assembly inspections.

A female engineer using an instrument to measure inside a pipe.

NDT

A Bright Future for Terahertz in Nondestructive Testing and Condition Monitoring

Currently, the most common application of THz is to monitor coatings and multilayer structures.

Mira Naftaly

March 10, 2025

Nondestructive testing (NDT) and condition monitoring (CM) are crucial for ensuring product quality in manufacturing. Terahertz (THz) technology adds a non-contact method that uses safe far-infrared wavelengths to analyze materials, detect faults, and visualize structures, making it ideal for various insulating materials.

This comparison shows a casting with cavities, which the AI-supported module reliably detects – on the left in the image.

NDT | AI in NDT

AI: A Game-Changer for Automated Defect Detection in NDT

The role of AI in NDT is now at an inflection point, with the use of machine learning and deep learning technologies opening up new horizons.

Lennart Schulenburg Daniel Grollmisch

March 3, 2025

Explore how AI is revolutionizing nondestructive testing (NDT), enhancing inspection accuracy and efficiency in critical industries like aerospace and energy.

Large-scale inspection of all aircraft systems in the aircraft hangar by worker mechanics and other specialists. Bright light streaming outside from the garage door.

NDT | Aerospace

Advances in Automated NDT: Viable Inspection Solutions for Aerospace Applications

Advanced ultrasonic testing solutions must keep pace with these new challenges while maintaining the rigorous quality control standards that ensure aircraft safety.

Ahmad Chahbaz René Sicard

March 2, 2025

Aerospace components, varying in shape, size, and material, require specialized inspection methods to ensure quality and safety due to the diverse manufacturing processes involved. Automated Ultrasonic Testing (UT) systems enhance efficiency and defect detection, but effective scanner control, inspection planning, and results analysis are essential to maximize their benefits.

This webinar, featuring a live demonstration, will showcase the evolution of Hexagon’s direct scanning laser trackers: cutting-edge technology that now delivers traditional reflector-tracking accuracy to non-contact, large-part scanning.

Quality Magazine

Cover Story