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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) works to satisfy the measurements and standards needs of the U.S. manufacturers in mechanical and dimensional metrology and in advanced manufacturing technology by conducting research and development, providing services, and participating in standards activities.
 MEL serves as an agent for change in the fast-paced world of manufacturing. When only a few-month lag in product development can jeopardize the financial health and stability of even the most established companies, manufacturers must have the resources to meet the demands of increased global competition and continue to make quality products meeting the needs of their customers. MEL actively anticipates these changing circumstances and pushes beyond the state of the art to the next generation of measurements and standards needs.
MEL researchers, often working in collaboration with scientists and engineers from industry, academia, and other government agencies, use the most sophisticated equipment and technologies. Unique assets of special value to industry include MEL’s million-pound dead weight stack for force  calibrations, the X-ray Optics Calibration Interferometer (XCALIBER) facility, a large anechoic chamber for acoustical testing, and the U.S. primary kilogram. MEL uses these resources and others to provide the best in the world calibration services, accurate machining processes characterizations, and technical access to the rich opportunities of information technology. Our world-leading Advanced Measurement Laboratory, which opened in 2003, provides state-of-the-art facilities in air quality, temperature, vibration, and humidity control. The industrial measurements of length, force, mass, acoustics, and vibration and the use of product data exchange are ultimately traced back to MEL.
Our contributions to the vitality of American industry are visible and pervasive. Manufacturing goods represent approximately fourteen percent (about $1 trillion) of the United States Gross National Product (GNP). Within that sector, the mechanical manufacturing industries served by MEL comprise approximately one-third of the manufacturing sector’s total contribution to the GNP and include the automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and machine tool industries. MEL makes a difference to these firms. One key U.S. manufacturer estimated that methods-and-calibrations outputs of MEL large-scale metrology research and services would reduce the time for carrying out a calibration by 50 percent at the same time increasing the interval between calibrations by 50 percent and thereby effecting a direct saving of $60 million and an indirect saving of $600 million over five years. MEL’s research in high-speed machining will allow manufacturers to achieve faster and safer cutting speeds of machine tools, allowing for significant savings.
MEL has a budget of approximately $43 million and a staff of 350 scientists and engineers, support personnel, craftsmen, technicians, and visiting scientists. Our five divisions address the complexity and demands of the manufacturing community:
- Precision Engineering Division
provides the foundation for dimensional measurements over 12 orders of magnitude (hundreds of meter to nanometers) via research, development, measurement services, and information dissemination (including standards);
- Manufacturing Metrology Division
fulfills the measurements and standards needs of the U.S. in mechanical metrology and advanced manufacturing technology via research and development, development of methods and data, provision of measurement services, and leadership for development of standards;
- Intelligent Systems Division
performs research and development focusing on the measurement and standards and associated with the development and application of intelligent control, open-architecture standards, and intelligent systems manufacturing;
- Manufacturing Systems Integration Division
promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply measurements and standards that advance information-based manufacturing technology; and
- Fabrication Technology Division
provides world-class instrument and specialized fabrication support for NIST researchers and serves as a testbed for many NIST/MEL programs.
- MEL GEMs
-a brief, non-technical, description that demonstrates the value of NIST impacts on companies, industry sectors, academia, and the public (pdf)
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