Metrology policies to foster the competitiveness of industry

1. Metrology policies to foster the competitiveness of industry J.F. Magaña

2. Summary • Existing reports • Impact of metrology on economy and society • Steering Committees of Metrology institutes • Technology transfer • Enabling new technologies • Support to innovation • Improving the design of products • Improving the efficiency of processes • Partnership between donors of order and subcontractors • Quality of manufactured products • Conclusions

3. Existing reports • International: • Blevin report (BIPM) • Kaarls report (BIPM) • Birch reports (OIML) • Regional: • European Metrology Research Programme (EURAMET) • National: • UK reports (see NMO web site) • French reports (see bibliography, maganajf.org/metrology) • See also • http://www.bipm.org/fr/practical_info/useful_links/impact.html

4. Impact of metrology on economy and society • Scientific research • Product design and innovation • Product conformity • Optimization of processes • Health • Energy • Environment • Safety • Working conditions • Economic flows • Protection of citizens • Everyday’s life

5. Steering Committees of Metrology Institutes • The priorities of the Institutes must be assessed against several criteria: • Fostering scientific skills of the Institute, • Image of the institute at international level, • Support to the public policies of the government (health, safety, consumer protection, environment, etc.), • Support to technological changes in the industry, • Support to the competitiveness of industry. • The Committee that advises on these priorities should include representatives of major sectors of the national industry

6. Technology transfer • Research work and developments in the metrology institutes usually result in devices that may be used and produced by the industry. • The institutes should : • Identify such developments that can be transferred, • Have a policy concerning the intellectual property (licensing or not?) • Publish information about the opportunities offered to the industry, • Look for industries able and willing to produce these devices, • Assist these industries to start this.

7. Enabling new technologies • New technologies need developments : • in the national metrology institutes, and • at industry level. • This is the case for : • nanotechnologies, • medical applications, • environmental technologies, • etc. • National institute must address these needs

8. Support to innovation • To be successful on the markets, innovative products need to be supported by: • Characterization of their advantages, which needs measurements, • Description of their performances in a normative document, • Demonstration of their conformity by a certification process, which again needs measurements. • Metrology is then an essential tool for a policy to support innovation.

9. Improving product design • Value Analysis and Design to Cost are quite efficient techniques to design competitive products. • The functions of the product must be assorted with specified performances and methods of evaluation, which clearly pertain to metrological activities. • It is then essential that designers carry out a metrological study to define the required functional performances of the product and their measurement.

10. Improving product design (2) • Risk analysis is a key discipline for the quality and reliability of products. It allows to better identify the critical points in the detailed design of a product and to reduce risks of failure and of non conformance. • This results in a definition of tolerances and key factors to control in order to assure the quality of products, and in a definition of the most appropriate measurements to carry out in production, avoiding useless controls and focusing on the necessary ones.

11. Process efficiency • The efficiency of the production process is clearly a key factor of competitiveness. • Saving energy and raw materials, considering the increasing costs of these factors, is a major challenge for the industries, and also a major challenge for the environment. • By measuring appropriately the parameters of the production process, and optimizing them for example with Value Analysis applied to the process, industries can dramatically save costs.

12. Donors of order and subcontractors • In many cases, the product requirements imposed by donors of order to subcontractors are overspecified. They often lead the subcontractors to: • Either apply manufacturing standards that are more costly than necessary, and in a number of cases, face financial difficulties, • Or be obliged to ask for derogations when the production does not comply with these specifications, and risk to be struck off the list of subcontractors. • A constructive dialog between donors of order and subcontractors about product specifications will result in a better efficiency, an increased confidence and in profitability for both.

13. Quality of manufactured products • Appropriate measurements are necessary to assure the quality of manufactured products and to demonstrate it. • ISO 9001-2008 standard includes requirements on measuring equipment (7.6), but also quite important requirements on monitoring and measurement of processes (8.2.3) and of products (8.2.4). • These aspects are too often poorly known both by industries and by the assessors of QS certification bodies.

14. Conclusions • Policies developed by the governments to improve the impact of metrology on the competitiveness of industries should take into account all these aspects by addressing metrology in the following domains: • Strategy and objectives of national institutes, • Policy of support to new technologies, • Policy of support to innovation, • Promotion of quality management, • Training and consultancy to the industries, • Initial training of engineers.

15. More information • http://www.maganajf.org/metrology