NIST:
Did you know...
- NIST's weights and measures services, a job assigned to the federal government in the Constitution, provide the basis for the fairness and efficiency of sales. These services underpin the efficiency of about half the U.S. economy, or about $7 trillion of the U.S. gross domestic product.
- Between
3 percent and 6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is
attributed to measurements and measurement-related operations that rely
on NIST for accuracy, reliability, and international recognition?
- Eighty
percent of global merchandise trade is influenced by testing and other
measurement-related requirements of regulations and standards—and
that U.S. companies increasingly depend on NIST to help ensure access
to global markets that create new business and jobs?
- Without
NIST, U.S. manufacturers of such products as glucose and cholesterol
test kits—in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices—wouldn’t
be able to meet requirements of new European Union regulations and would
have been shut out of the $7 billion European market where they now
have more than 60 percent of the business?
- The
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest
honor awarded by the President of the United States to U.S. organizations
for their performance excellence and quality achievements, is managed
by NIST—and the award criteria are used by thousands of companies,
schools, and hospitals to improve their products and services?
- The
total economic benefit of the NIST Baldrige National Quality Program—which
receives little federal funding—is estimated at almost $25 billion,
for a stunning benefit-cost ratio of 207 to 1?
- The
Baldrige program is so successful that it has spawned similar programs
in 41 states and nearly 80 quality programs internationally?
-
NIST-developed performance-measurement methods have accelerated the
adoption of new manufacturing capabilities, such as accuracy-enhancing
software for machine tools, and led to new technology, such as laser
tracker measurement systems used increasingly in the aerospace, automotive,
and other industries?
- NIST’s
technical contributions to the development of encryption standards for
information technology have been estimated to have saved private industry
more than $1 billion—and enable consumers and business to be confident
about the security of their
billions of dollars worth of electronic data transactions daily, such
as withdrawals from ATMs?
- About
1.5 billion times a day NIST’s Internet Time Service sets computer
clocks and other networked time-keeping devices, such as those used
to synchronize telecommunications systems?
- NIST’s
Internet Time Service is used by NASDAQ members to time-stamp hundreds
of billions of dollars worth of stock trades and other financial transactions
conducted every business day?
- In
the Army alone, 58,000 different types of equipment require regular
“NIST traceable” calibration, ensuring that measurements
made during the development, testing, maintenance, and operation are
valid; that their system will perform as designed; and that they will
be interoperable with other systems on the battlefield?
- NIST
developed the testing procedures and other key technical elements of
the Department of Homeland Security’s performance standards for
radiation detectors used at seaports, airports, and other points of
entry into the United States?
- About
2,700 law-enforcement officers have been spared from death or disabling
injury as a result of NIST-developed standards for ballistic-resistant
body armor (“bullet-proof” vests)?
- The
National Research Council credits NIST Standard Reference Materials
for DNA analyses with improving the accuracy of forensic DNA tests while
reducing testing costs and that the criminal justice community depends
on NIST to assure that its testing is accurate?
- The
United States spends about $1.1 trillion on health care, and 10 percent
to 15 percent of that is associated with making measurements—NIST’s
specialty?
-
NIST measurement services underpin the safety and effectiveness of about
10 million medical procedures that use radioactive materials—from
prostate- and breast-cancer treatment to diagnostic imaging?
- NIST
X-ray standards and proficiency tests ensure proper radiation exposure
levels in more than 9,000 facilities that perform more than 30 million
mammograms yearly?
- Many
of the tools and materials used in modern dentistry—from the panoramic
X-ray to composite fillings to an array of adhesives—originated
at NIST through a continuing 75-year-old partnership with the American
Dental Association?
- NIST
Standard Reference Materials helped to significantly improve the accuracy
of cholesterol tests, resulting in better diagnoses and treatments and
an estimated annual savings of about $100 million?
- Consumers
and industry benefit from NIST measurement aids that help manufacturers
to validate food production and quality control procedures and to ensure
accurate nutritional labeling?
- Emissions
trading, called for by the Clean Air Act of 1990, depends on an initiative
begun by NIST and the Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation
with the specialty gas industry—and that a $140 million market
in the United States and a growing market overseas was created?
- NIST
led the development of performance standards and placement recommendations
for smoke detectors, now in 94 percent of American homes and saving
thousands of lives, or that half of home fire deaths occur in the 6
percent of homes with no smoke alarms?
- NIST
scientists have earned three Nobel Prizes over the last 11 years?
- Closed-captioning
for people with impaired hearing, now featured on all TV sets, was co-invented
at NIST, earning it an Emmy Award?
- Thousands
of small manufacturers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico rely on the
NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership for hands-on technical
and business assistance?
- In
a recent survey completed in September 2004, covering projects completed
in fiscal year 2003, 4,865 clients of NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing
Extension Partnership reported that, as a result of MEP services, they
realized almost $686 million in cost
savings; invested $912 million in modernization, including plant and
equipment, information systems, and workforce training; increased or
retained $4.1 billion in sales; and created and retained over 50,315
jobs?
- U.S.
automakers and their suppliers, which account for more than 3 percent
of the nation’s GDP, rely on NIST Standard Reference Materials
to ensure quality in a wide range of tasks, from the processing of materials
to final assembly, to emissions
compliance?
Created: 1/31/06
Updated: 7/25/08
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov |