What A Pity

[hilldweller]

Years ago I worked in a technical department that was responsible among other things for measuring equipment.

The introduction of a requirement to ensure that things like micrometers were subject to a regular inspection and calibration regime caused huge problems. Very expensive calibration equipment was bought and a temperature controlled test area was set up.

Department by department the micrometers were brought in, they were all in terrible shape and about 90% of them were instantly condemned and replaced.

The thing that caused me grief was that the reject rate seemed to depend on who made the instruments in the first place.

The micrometers made by the two Sheffield firms were top of list proportionately for rejection. Micrometers made by an American firm achieved much better results but micrometers made by Mitutoyo, a Japanese firm managed to pass all the test requirements despite being just as battered as the other makes. The reject percentage was a tiny fraction of the other makes.

When we bought new replacements from a Sheffield firm we found that many of them failed the initial calibration.

Micrometers bought from Japan were well within spec.

I found it very depressing that Great Britain the one-time world leader in engineering couldn't match other nation's wares.

HD

[DaveH]

Years ago I worked in a technical department that was responsible among other things for measuring equipment.

The introduction of a requirement to ensure that things like micrometers were subject to a regular inspection and calibration regime caused huge problems. Very expensive calibration equipment was bought and a temperature controlled test area was set up.

Department by department the micrometers were brought in, they were all in terrible shape and about 90% of them were instantly condemned and replaced.

The thing that caused me grief was that the reject rate seemed to depend on who made the instruments in the first place.

The micrometers made by the two Sheffield firms were top of list proportionately for rejection. Micrometers made by an American firm achieved much better results but micrometers made by Mitutoyo, a Japanese firm managed to pass all the test requirements despite being just as battered as the other makes. The reject percentage was a tiny fraction of the other makes.

When we bought new replacements from a Sheffield firm we found that many of them failed the initial calibration.

Micrometers bought from Japan were well within spec.

I found it very depressing that Great Britain the one-time world leader in engineering couldn't match other nation's wares.

HD

But British made micrometers measure to a "thou" (a thousandth of an inch, - a good old Imperial British unit)

I bet those foreign micrometers measure to a hundredth of a millimeter instead

I must admit that my current (foreign) micrometer is calibrated in mm :o