A new sense of importance: as size and functionality needs become more constricting, new sensing technologies take a prominent role in design and manufacturing.(Technology Review)

Product Design & Development, February, 2005 by Vermillion, Len

There's a lot of pressure on sensors these days, and we're not talking about just the kind specifically designed to measure pressure. In the modern manufacturing world, sensors--whether engineered to measure position, temperature, induction, displacement, or any of the myriad of operations such units can control and monitor--have become vital components of both design and manufacturing processes.

Sensors are now a nearly $40 billion industry and market insiders agree that today's sensors must be able to offer manufacturers productivity, quality, and safety, all in one package. "It all comes down to what you can measure and what it costs to obtain the measurement," Kermit Hoffman, president of GE Infrastructure Sensing in New Fairfield, CT, told an audience...

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