Even with the availability of hundreds of standard precision tools and gages, sometimes measuring challenges are best solved with a specially made gage. It is critical to work hand-in-hand with engineers who are dedicated to making sure that an accurate and easy-to-use custom-made solution can be attained for specific application requirements. 

Thread plug gages are fascinating products when you consider the technical details that go into their manufacture and the precision they embody. To some, they look like fancy bolts and are treated accordingly. 

Digitalization has changed our world as the internet and modern technology continue to shape the manufacturing industry. For example, the vision of Industry 4.0 shows that production systems and machines are required to be flexible and adapt with continuously changing manufactured products. That means production will be more individualized, flexible, and faster. 

The role of metrology is shifting. This is especially true in modern industrial settings and for increasingly exacting applications. Once perceived as a necessary evil residing in the quality control department validating the integrity of finished parts and components, today metrology is viewed more as an enabling technology that truly adds value.

There’s a long-lived adage in woodworking and carpentry—measure twice, cut once. As civilization grew and evolved from millions of years ago when primitive cutting tools were used to hunt and gather food, a need for more accurate cutting tools grew and evolved with it.

This situation pops up quite regularly when a relatively simple feature such as the diameter of a hole in a machined part doesn’t appear to be right when the part is at the assembly stage of manufacture. Like similar disputes, the finger pointing begins and compromises are made but the problem doesn’t go away.