Fred Mason

Quality Vision International

Frederick Mason has more than 20 years of experience in metrology in engineering and in domestic and international marketing roles. He has a broad range of experience, including holography, laser and white-light interferometry, microscopy, and video and multisensor metrology. He’s the vice president, marketing communications, for Quality Vision International, parent company of Optical Gaging Products, RAM Optical Instrumentation, VIEW Micro-Metrology, and Quality Vision Services.

Wed, 08/13/2008 - 22:00
More Certainty About Uncertainty(?) One thing is certain—uncertainty is certainly complicated.
Wed, 08/13/2008 - 22:00
There’s an amazing amount of information available about what uncertainty is and how to specify it. If I understood it completely, I would become a consultant and stop writing this column. In spite of that, this column may shed some light on this…
Uncertain About Uncertainty? You don’t have to be.
Thu, 06/12/2008 - 22:00
When thinking about measurement devices and systems, the subject of accuracy comes up. Accuracy has been discussed in past columns of “Measurement Matters.” In the context of measurement system specifications, there’s more concern about the…
Uncertain About Uncertainty? You don’t have to be.
Wed, 06/11/2008 - 22:00
When thinking about measurement devices and systems, the subject of accuracy comes up. Accuracy has been discussed in past columns of “Measurement Matters.” In the context of measurement system specifications, there’s more concern about the…
Making Sense of Sensors An exercise in semantics
Wed, 03/12/2008 - 22:00
It’s becoming common to refer to the devices used for dimensional and coordinate measurement—vision/optics, lasers, touch probes, and others—as sensors. Multisensor measuring systems use two or more of these devices. It can be confusing because none…
Close to the Edge But not over it
Wed, 02/13/2008 - 22:00
In dimensional measurement it isn’t unusual to measure feature locations relative to reference edges. How one measures an edge depends on how we define it. So what exactly is an edge? Basic edges
Back when people thought the world was flat,…
Outsourcing Measurement Sometimes a bad idea
Wed, 01/09/2008 - 22:00
Happy New Year! One resolution many people have made is to cut costs. One way to do that is to manufacture in China. Just transfer your current manufacturing processes, use China’s lower-cost labor, and increase profits. It’s not that easy. If…
Black Friday—Interpreting Economic Data Bah humbug!
Wed, 12/12/2007 - 22:00
During this annual holiday shopping melee, economists project the implications of our spending for the country’s overall economic health in the coming year. That can be like claiming a warm December day proves global warming. What does this have to…
Risky Business Does cutting costs really cut total costs?
Wed, 11/14/2007 - 22:00
You manufacture a part that must be within design tolerances to work properly, so you need to measure it. It costs to: Buy the measuring device Provide a space and/or utilities for it Develop fixtures or part-holding accessories Make sure…
That’s Highly Nonlinear! And perfectly normal
Wed, 10/10/2007 - 22:00
Many measurements assume that a measuring device performs in the same way throughout its measuring range. In other words, a 1 mm distance measured near the center of a machine will measure 1 mm at its periphery. But will it? This column discusses…
Golf Specs Measuring, guessing, and hoping for the best
Wed, 09/12/2007 - 22:00
All this talk about work in past columns—and the end of summer looming—makes me think about golf. You may not discuss golf and measurement in the same breath, but there are a lot of critical measurements involved in golf. There are also a lot of…