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Process and Quality Control and Calibration Programs of the National Bureau of Standards NBSIR 87-3596 Process and Quality Control and Calibration Programs of the National Bureau of Standards U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Bureau of Standards Gaithersburg, MD 20899 June 1987 Final Report Prepared for: The U.S. Congress in Response to Public Law 99.574 NBSIR 87-3596 PROCESS AND QUALITY CONTROL AND CALIBRATION PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Bureau of Standards Gaithersburg, MD 20899 June 1987 Final Report Prepared for: The U.S. Congress in Response to Public Law 99.574 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS. Ernest Ambler. Director , , , FOREWORD 99- 574^- October charged the Public Law , enacted 28, 1986, Director of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to ask the Bureau's major clients about their needs for research and services related to NBS "process and quality control and calibration programs". This report is in response to that request. (Excerpt from P.L. 99-574) PROCESS AND QUALITY CONTROL AND CALIBRATION PROGRAMS Sec. 9 (a) The Director of the National Bureau of Standards shall hold discussions with representatives of Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administra- tion, the National Institutes of Health, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission, which use (or the contractors of which depend on) the process and quality control and calibra- tion programs of the Bureau, and with companies, organizations and major engineering societies from the private sector, in order to determine the extent of the demand for research and services under such programs the appropriate methods of paying for research and services under such programs and with willingness of , Federal agencies and the private sector to pay for such research and services. (b) Within six months after the date of the enactment of this Act^, the Director shall submit to the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report of the Director's findings based on the discussions held under subsections (a) together with recommendations for such legislative actions as may be needed to implement a comprehensive Federal process and quality control and calibration program. 1 Public Law 99-574, Section 9, Parts (a) and (b) National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act. ^ The National Bureau of Standards was later granted a two -month extension of this deadline. i ‘ TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword i Table of Contents iii Executive Summary v I. NBS ROLES, PRODUCTS, & CUSTOMERS A. Introduction 1 B . NBS Measurement Services 8 C. Customers 21 II. COMMON CUSTOMER THEMES A. Lead Agency Status 29 B. Cost Recovery and Pricing of Services 33 C. Measurement and the Current National Concern with Competitiveness 37 III. SENIOR MANAGEMENT VISITS BY NBS TO ITS CUSTOMERS A. Results 41 B. Attendees 55 Appendix A. Customer Needs for Calibrations & Special Tests 73 Appendix B. Customer Needs for Standard Reference Materials 103 Appendix C. Defense Department Needs for Measurement Research & Services 151 Appendix D. The Status of Emerging Technologies: An Economic/Technological Assessment to the Year 2000 177 iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY General Observations There has been an explosion in applied science in the last two decades that is manifested in a considerable number of emerg- ing technologies Computers and robots are revolutionizing the manufacturing industries. Ceramics, polymers, and composites are revolutionizing the materials industries. Biotechnology is re- volutionizing the chemical, agricultural, medical, and drug in- dustries. Computers, telecommunications, and optoelectronics are revolutionizing financial, information, and government services and operations as well as manufacturing. New materials that be- come superconducting at near- room temperature hold tremendous promise for the electric power, medical, and transportation indus- tries . Movement from basic commodities and materials to higher- value-added products and systems is inevitable and irreversible. Opportunities afforded by the new technologies and challenges from worldwide competition will compel industry to build highly- flexible manufacturing facilities. Customers will benefit from a previously undreamed of variety of products. The Nation is facing a challenge. Economic competition is increasing throughout the world. The technology- induced rise of new industries and revamping of older industries is taking place in a context of intense global competition. New technologies, new industries, new products and services mean that a new technolog- ical infrastructure -- including measurements, test methods, stan- dards, and evaluated data -- has to be constructed and integrated. The private sector is underinvesting in the science and tech- nology which underlies industrial process design, process control, and quality assurance. Because it is difficult to capture the returns from investment in this science and technology, industry ^•Under the direction of Deputy Secretary of Commerce Clarence J. Brown, NBS Director Ernest Ambler recently chaired a Department of Commerce committee to identify emerging technologies and barriers to their expedient commercial application. The Department's re- port, "The Status of Emerging Technologies: An Economic/Technolog- ical Assessment to the Year 2000", is included as Appendix D. v systematically underinvests in its production, to the detriment of national economic growth and international competitiveness. American firms and Government agencies believe that imple- mentation of process control and quality assurance in the United States is and ought to be primarily the responsibility of the producers of the Nation's goods and services, that is, the indi- vidual firms, organizations, and agencies. NBS shares this view. No Federal program, no matter how competent or well-meaning, can assume decision-making responsibility for those who take the risks and reap the rewards. In order to respond effectively to the global competitive challenge, our customers see a need for new measurement services at earlier stages in the product or program development process. This comes at a time when the mechanism for generating these ser- vices has become reactive to the product or program needs so that measurement support is often available late in the cycle . This inhibits first- to -market strategies, slows down product introduc- tion, and can cause major setbacks in Government programs. The National Bureau of Standards also faces a challenge. While measurements and standards for existing technologies and industries continue to require NBS support, new research and ser- vices are needed to bring measurement uniformity and compatibility to an array of new technologies. New, emerging technologies have enlarged the scope of measurement requirements; and new kinds of automated processes have changed the scale of measurement support required (e.g., for real-time, in-situ measurement ). Customer Reactions When asked about the need for a national program for process and quality control, nearly all of the Bureau's industrial cus- tomers expressed the view that the current implementation of the Nation's process control and calibration program, which assigns NBS the role of a central reference laboratory, is the most ap- propriate national program. The firms, Government agencies, and other laboratories we visited recognize the importance of process control and quality assurance to their organizations and to the Nation. vi . Our customers also believe that the National Bureau of Stan- dards plays a unique role with respect to infrastructure support for process control and quality assurance in the Nation. Our customers believe that NBS must provide the measurement foundation needed for process control and quality assurance in the private and public sectors. Many would like to see NBS explicitly design- ated the lead national laboratory^ for advanced thinking and ex- perimentation in the measurement science and technology that un- derlies gains in process control and quality assurance. Our customers also endorse the Bureau's unique, non- regula- tory role that relies on voluntary participation by industry. They believe that NBS should provide technical tools and informa- tion to lubricate our free enterprise engine; measurement tools and information which underlie the process control and quality assurance of all firms and facilitate company- to -company consis- tency in key measurements, but which do not interfere with their proprietary interests. The customers we visited recognize the symbiotic relationship that exists between forefront research and measurement services. They find the Bureau's measurement services valuable because they are linked to U.S. national standards maintained by NBS. Measure- ment services are seen as mechanisms for transferring measurement science and theory into practice in industry and elsewhere. Even though a particular service may seem to be provided through rela- tively routine operations, customers value the fact that each measurement service is built on a sound experimental and theoret- ical basis, is validated, and is capable of rapid adaptation to high levels of performance. 9 "Lead Agency" is the term applied to an agency with a mis- sion that crosses agency lines. A "lead agency's" authorization and funding may require
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