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Manufacturing
Workshop
Tells Industry: It's Either First or Worst
Back
in 1977, Billy Joel sang, “Get it right the first time, that’s
the main thing, you can't afford to let it pass.” Twenty-three
years later, these words have become an anthem for U.S. manufacturers
who realize that today’s customers demand nothing less than products
that are designed and manufactured correctly, the first time and
every time.
To
raise awareness of the necessity of “getting it right the first
time,” NIST and the Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative
recently held the first industry workshop on the topic of “First
Part Correct” (also known as FPC). The attendees, a select group
of manufacturing experts from various industry segments, trade
associations and government agencies, defined FPC as “the ability
to transition from design concept to a finished product with absolute
certainty of a correctly produced part or product.” Emphasis,
they agreed, should be on the ability to produce the first product
correctly and then transition from one to many without interruption.
The
workshop participants explored the vision of FPC, sharing best
practices that embody it, defining the R&D goals needed to support
it and outlining the steps to achieve it. As a result, they prioritized
the most compelling R&D goals as targets for cooperative efforts.
These include developing an advanced controller testbed, launching
a focus group on “automagic” product development (the automatic
translation of customer requirements into a finished product),
studying a “business case” for a FPC strategy and creating an
Internet-based emerging technology database.
A
“roadmap” synthesizing the workshop’s results will be issued in
the next few months. It will be available on the FPC World Wide
Web site at http://fpc.ncms.org.
Future FPC workshops are currently being planned.
For
more information, contact Elena
Messina, NIST, 100 Bureau Dr., Stop 8230, Gaithersburg, Md.
20899-8230; (301) 975-3510; elena.messina@nist.gov;
or Richard Neal, IMTI, P.O. Box 5296, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37830;
(865) 947-7000; imti1@msn.com.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Newman, (301) 975-3025
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Semiconductors
New
NIST Web Site Tells All About Hall
In
1879, physicist Edwin H. Hall discovered that a magnetic field
alters the behavior of charge carriers as they pass through a
metal strip. He observed that when an electric current passes
through a conducting strip, there is normally no difference in
voltage between the sides of the strip. Yet, when a magnetic field
is applied perpendicular to the surface, charge carriers move
to both sides, and a voltage drop is created across the strip.
Today, this observation—known as the Hall effect—is an indispensable
tool in industrial and academic research laboratories for predicting
how charge carriers behave in semiconductor materials and fabricated
devices. It is a simple way to characterize the electrical properties
of complex semiconductor materials
NIST
is making information about the Hall effect more accessible via
a new World Wide Web site. The tutorial-style site was recently
completed by researchers in the agency’s Semiconductor
Electronics Division. It fulfills the need of industry and
academia for a centralized source of information about the theory,
practices and applications of Hall measurements in semiconductor
technology.
The
web address is www.eeel.nist.gov/812/hall.html.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Building
Research
Grants
Put Housing Innovations on the PATH to Reality
What
kind of innovations will change American housing in the next five
to 10 years?
NIST
and the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing expect
home owners, builders and remodelers will chose among: roofing
that cools and generates electricity; walls that snap together;
super-insulating panels created from coal power industry by-products;
large-sized insulated steel molds for high performance concrete
foundations and walls; energy-saving programmable thermostats;
and system engineering building techniques that cut costs and
improve the quality of rural and inner-city housing.
NIST
and PATH recently announced research and development awards totaling
$1.1 million to six industry projects promising such innovations.
The awards inaugurate a new PATH effort, administered by NIST,
called the Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing Cooperative
Research Program.
PATH
is a public/private initiative launched by President Clinton in
1998 to integrate new housing technologies into the residential
construction industry. The Department of Housing and Urban Development,
which manages PATH, is funding up to 70 percent of the PATHCoRP
projects. Industry participants are cost-sharing the R&D costs
with PATH.
PATH-CoRP
industry partners promise prototypes for testing in the residential
construction marketplace within 18 months.
For
a list of PATH-CoRP awardees, go to the World Wide Web at www.pathnet.org
or www.bfrl.nist.gov/info/pathcorp/pathcorpaward.htm.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
Computer
Security
One
Hundred Certificates and Counting for Testing Program
A
computer security testing program run by the US and Canadian government
has now issued its 100th certificate.
The
Cryptographic Module
Validation Program, managed by NIST and its Canadian counterpart,
the Communications Security Establishment, certifies that devices
employing information scrambling techniques meet federal standards,
and gives consumers and businesses an objective way to assess
cryptographic products. Before the launch of the testing program
in 1995, there was no generally accepted way to test cryptographic
products.
With
the addition of 50 new products in the past year alone, the list
has become a “Who’s Who” of information technology companies from
the United States, Canada and abroad. The list includes products
ranging from Internet browsers to secure radios.
The
100th certificate was issued to Fortress Technologies of Tampa,
Fla.
While
the government agencies oversee the program, all of the nuts-and-bolts
testing is done by private, accredited laboratories in the United
States and Canada. The tests ensure that a product meets federal
standards. NIST accredits the laboratories and verifies their
technical competence to test cryptographic modules.
The
labs ensure that the products meet the requirements of Federal
Information Processing Standard 140-1, Security Requirements
for Cryptographic Modules. Federal agencies are required to
use FIPS 140-1 when purchasing cryptographic products intended
to protect sensitive, unclassified information. The standard is
used voluntarily by businesses as well, particularly in the financial
services industry.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Biotechnology
Probing
Nanoscale Pores to Understand Membrane Physics
If
you want to get in, you usually need a key. Living cells are no
different. Cells have hundreds of different types of nanometer-size
pores or channels for selectively admitting needed chemicals,
nutrients or proteins through their membranes. The selectivity
of these membranes and the speed at which molecules traverse them
make them attractive potential tools for drug discovery or genetic
sequencing. However, before adapting them for such uses, scientists
need a better fundamental understanding of how they work.
NIST
scientists are developing measurement methods to probe the biophysical
properties of cellular membranes. A team in the NIST
Biotechnology Division has built a special confocal microscope
which can detect single molecules in synthetic lipid bilayer membranes.
It is capable of three-dimensional resolution in optical measurements
since the light source and the detector share the same focal plane.
Scientists
have used the microscope to measure the diffusion of lipid molecules
in a synthetic membrane. They focused a laser beam on the membrane
and detected fluorescent bursts when a lipid molecule within the
membrane passed across the focal spot of the laser. Under some
circumstances, they discovered that the laser beam briefly alters
the motion of individual lipids. The finding helps establish optical
conditions that enable accurate diffusion measurements and also
may lead to applications in which small laser-guided molecules
can be manipulated across a membrane or cell surface. NIST scientists
Daniel
Burden and John
Kasianowicz have written a paper describing this work for
the July 6, 2000, issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry
B.
Media
Contact:
Linda
Joy, (301)
975-4403
Administration
Jackson
Leaves NIST; Bloom Acting Director of MEL
Richard
H.F. Jackson, director of NIST's Manufacturing
Engineering Laboratory since March 1996, has left the agency
to become director of FIATECH, a new consortium tasked with accelerating
the delivery of fully integrated and automated technology applications
to the construction industry.
A
29-year veteran of NIST, Jackson began his career at the agency
as a operations research analyst in the applied mathematics division.
Prior to his four years as MEL director, he served as the lab’s
deputy director from 1989. In addition to these positions, Jackson
was director of the Manufacturing Technology Centers program during
its first year. Begun in 1988, the program was the forerunner
of NIST's Manufacturing Extension
Partnership nationwide network of assistance centers for small
manufacturers. For this work, Jackson received the Commerce Department's
Bronze Medal.
Jackson
also is a recipient of two Commerce Silver Medals and the author
of more than 75 publications.
Howard
Bloom, deputy director of MEL, will take over as acting director
of the laboratory until a replacement for Jackson is chosen.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Newman, (301)
975-3025
Standards
FQA
Final Rule Published; Hotline and Declaration Forms Available
When
the Fastener Quality Act of
1990 was amended in 1999, the revised law established protections
against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented and counterfeit
fasteners while eliminating unnecessary requirements. Fasteners
include screws, nuts, bolts and other devices used in critical
products and systems such as automobiles, aircraft and tanks.
Now,
NIST's Technology Services
has published the final rule setting forth the official procedures
for implementation of the FQA. These procedures are available
as an Adobe Acrobat file on the FQA World Wide Web site, www.nist.gov/fqa.
Also available at the same address are online forms for organizations
to declare themselves as an accreditor of fastener testing laboratories
or an accreditor of quality system registrars. The publication
of the final rule also announces the establishment of a hotline
for reporting alleged violations of the law, (800) 424-2980.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301)
975-3025
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