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Interface Holiday Wish List

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As we turn the corner on another great year at Interface, it comes with grace and gratitude to everyone that played part in our 2019 story. And with that, we wish everyone a very joyous holiday season.

To our customers, we appreciate your loyalty and trust. We know you rely on us to accomplish big things and ensure what you do is safe, reliable, durable and accurate. To our team members, our partners, our representatives, and distributors around the world, our success is your success. You are the faces of Interface and everything you do makes a difference.

Reflecting on the past year, we thought we would share what we know best. That’s what you like best!  We compiled a quick list of the top 10 products we sold this year to give you an idea of what’s hot and trending in force measurement.

Here are the items that were on the wish lists of engineers, testers, and lab technicians around the world by quantity of most frequently purchased.  By the way, this list excludes our calibration services and the unique solutions we design for our OEM customers.

BEST SELLING FORCE MEASUREMENT PRODUCTS OF 2019

  1. Mini Compression Load Button Load Cell – This top-selling Interface LBM load cell is available in capacities from 25 to 50K lbf, is environmentally-sealed and made of stainless steel.
  2. LW General Purpose Load Washer Load Cell – A big seller, the Interface Load Washer is available with a wide selection of OD, ID, heights and in various combinations. It is also made of stainless steel.
  3. SGA AC/DC Powered Signal Conditioner – Our SGA Signal Conditioner is a very popular instrumentation device that provides user-selectable analog output ±10V, ±5V, 0-10V, 0-5V, 0-20mA and 4-20mA as a single channel that powers up to four transducers.
  4. SM S-Type Load Cell – This high-demand S-Type Load Cell is for high-performance tension and compression testing. It utilizes proprietary Interface temperature compensated strain gages.
  5. 1200 Standard Precision LowProfile® Load Cell – The 1200 LowProfile Load Cell model series outsells all others. It is eccentric load compensated and has low deflection and shunt calibration. It can be used in tension and compression testing.
  6. T4 Standard Precision Shaft Style Rotary Torque Transducer – With more than 50 torque models available, this particular Interface T4 Torque Shaft Style Rotary Transducer has capacities from 0.1 Nm to 1K Nm (0.88 lbf-in to 8.85K lbf-in). It has contactless data transmission with digital electronics with on-shaft design.
  7. MB Mini Beam Load Cell – Our low capacity mini load cell has Interface temperature compensated strain gages with performance to 0.03%, low deflection and low height with 1-inch max.
  8. 1100 Ultra Precision LowProfile® Load Cell – The Interface model 1100, with a range of capacities, is selected among our best low profile load cells. It has very low nonlinearity, hysteresis, eccentric load sensitivity, and temperature sensitivity.
  9. 9320 Battery Powered Portable Load Cell Indicator – A very popular instrument, Interface’s 9320 Indicator is handheld and features two independently scalable ranges, peak and valley monitoring, display hold, mV/V calibration, and a power save feature. Typical battery life exceeds 40 hours of continuous use (450 hours in power-save mode), and is TEDS plug and play compliant.
  10. WTS 1200 Standard Precision LowProfile® Wireless Load Cell – Our most popular wireless load cell, often purchased as part of the entire Wireless Telemetry System (WTS), is compact in size and has capacities from 300 to 100K lbf (1.5 to 450 kN), with performance to 0.0425% and a 2.4 GHZ transceiver.

With thousands of products, we certainly have a diverse and broad selection of products and force measurement solutions. We didn’t include all our custom and OEM solutions or calibration services in our best selling list.

As we head into 2020, we look forward to working together to supporting your latest projects and unique applications, as well as helping to achieve your goals in the new decade!  We appreciate you and thank you for your business!

Happy Holidays from your Interface Team!

 

Interface Awarded Arizona Manufacturers Council 2019 Manufacturer of the Year

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It is with great honor that Interface is recognized in the Outstanding Small Manufacturer category for Quality Products and Involvement in Community by the Arizona Manufacturers Council as recipients of the “2019 Manufacturer of the Year” award.

Interface received the award at a gala luncheon held at the Arizona Biltmore on October 3, 2019. The annual award program recognizes the best companies in the state that exemplify how manufacturing betters their local communities and the state of Arizona.

“Interface takes great pride in the role we play in manufacturing excellence, and our entire company is honored to have received this distinguished award,” said Joel Strom, CEO of Interface. “We are especially pleased because as the builders and makers of precision force measurement solutions, the award recognizes Interface for the three aspects of our business we pride ourselves on: quality products, continued innovation, and involvement in our community.”

The Arizona Manufacturers Council plays a vital role in the state as the voice of Arizona manufacturing. They are associated with the National Association of Manufacturers and work tirelessly to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries in Arizona.

“Interface’s depth of expertise of breadth of products serves as a shining example in the manufacturing sector,” said Alison Gilbreath, executive director, Arizona Manufacturers Council. “We’re delighted to have presented Interface with this year’s well-deserved award and are confident they will continue to be a best-in-class example of what it means to successfully compete in the global economy and create jobs in Arizona.”

Interface is well known for premium accuracy and reliability when it comes to force measurement solutions. In the last 12 months, Interface launched one of its most disruptive and innovative solutions to date, the AxialTQ™ Wireless Rotary Torque Transducer and expanded its Wireless Telemetry System (WTS) for use in the automotive market. In the area of community involvement, the company introduced the Interface University Program to provide discounted products, services, and educational materials to innovators and educators. Interface is also continuing its involvement in the local STEM community, the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair and local Arizona universities.

PRESS RELEASE

Seismic Application for Interface Load Pins

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The range of applications of force measurement is wide-ranging across many industries. You can find Interface Mini Load Cells are frequently used to measure minute forces in precision medical devices, while our jumbo precision load cells that are rated for 2,000,000 pounds of force (lbf) are used to measure the force of rocket thrust.

Interface recently completed another extraordinary force measurement solution for a large scale infrastructure project, the first of its kind for the 51-year-old company.  Engineering and solution experts created custom load pins to measure the seismic force on the Gerald Desmond Bridge. There are interesting details that give a perspective on how force is used to provide safe passages.

Sensors are essential in innovation, with a dependency on accuracy and reliability that impacts lives and ingenuity.

BACKGROUND

The Gerald Desmond Bridge, a bridge located in Long Beach, California, opened in 1968. It is a major commuting route for the region, and a major trade corridor carrying 15 percent of all containerized cargo imported to the United States. The bridge connects Terminal Island, the heart of the port complex, with the Long Beach Freeway as well as downtown Long Beach. In 2012, a large civil construction contractor was tasked with replacing the existing steel arch bridge with a new suspension bridge rising more than 200 feet over the water.

CHALLENGE

The contractors, an Interface customer, wanted to find a way to measure the force on the Gerald Desmond Bridge in the event of an earthquake. The goal was to continuously monitor the standard force created by regular traffic, as well as the seismic force before, during, and after earthquakes. The monitoring sensors needed to be integrated into a dampener that would be attached to the structural tower. The solution that would allow the company to monitor force from emitted data to cross-reference the standard traffic force with the seismic force to understand its effect on the bridge. Its purpose is to help with predictive maintenance and influence future bridge designs to better compensate for the forces of an earthquake or other natural disasters, which are common in this part of the world.

SOLUTION

Interface was engaged to create a unique infrastructure solution. It required a custom product that could handle the inimitable and considerable force of a bridge under every scenario of distress. Interface engineers developed a custom load pin to handle the force of movement in the bridge in the event of an earthquake. The load pin is much larger than our standard version and is rated at 900,000 lbf. The large load pins are designed to be integrated into the dampener with data acquisition modules connected to the load pins.

RESULTS

With the integration of Interface’s custom load pins and data acquisition module collect data at all times. The sturdy construction of our load pins and 900,000 lbf rating allow for readings during all degrees of seismic activity. We are also able to ensure product durability because the failure rating of the custom load pins is maxed out to 2.7 million lbf. An added benefit of this project was the Interface R&D efforts applied to create future data acquisition modules like this that utilize wireless technology.

Source: Ted Larson, VP of Product Development

READ COMPLETE CASE STUDY HERE

Interface Case Study for Bridge Project

DOWNLOAD

Interface Celebrates Made in the USA

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Manufacturing is essential to the U.S. economy, with an estimated $2.38 trillion contribution and accounting for nearly half of all exports. This equals about 11.4% of U.S. economic output. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

With approximately 250,000 firms in the manufacturing sector in the U.S., Interface is proud to be counted as one of them. Companies with manufacturing operations solely in the U.S. are considered an anomaly today. With a great deal of U.S. production occurring outside the country, there are fewer enterprises that sustain domestic manufacturing success. As we approach Independence Day on July 4th, Interface is reflecting on how honored we are to be a U.S. manufacturer for more than a half-century and counting.

Though our production is domestic, our reach is global. Interface load cells and torque transducers have been used in nearly all industries providing reliable test and accurate measurement capabilities to international market leaders in aerospace, automotive, energy, medical, education, and other top manufacturers. We’re proud to say our products are “Made in the USA.”

We began designing and manufacturing load cells and other force measurement equipment in 1968 when Richard F. Caris started Interface in his garage. Since those early days, we have grown to become one of the most trusted names in the industry. And not once in our history have we considered moving production out of the U.S. We maintain the highest degree of performance by managing the entire process, from design and machining, to strain gage manufacturing and assembly at our headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.

One of the most satisfying aspects of having U.S. manufacturing operations is contributing to our country’s economic prosperity and innovation. The National Association of Manufacturing (NAM) presented the following facts on the state of U.S. manufacturing, and Interface is appreciative to be an integral contributor to these milestones.

NAM Facts (Source):

  • U.S. manufacturers perform 64% of all private-sector R&D in the nation, driving more innovation than any other sector.
  • For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.82 is added to the economy.
  • There are 12.82 million manufacturing workers in the U.S., approximately 8.5% of the workforce.
  • Over the next decade, 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed, and 2.4 million are expected to go unfilled due to the skills gap.
  • Over the past 28 years, U.S. manufactured goods exported have quadrupled.
  • Manufacturers in the U.S. export nearly half of U.S. manufacturing output.
  • Taken alone, manufacturing in the U.S. would be the eighth-largest economy in the world.

Interface is focused on our contributions economically, by supporting innovation and job growth through a robust manufacturing role in the production of the world’s leading force measurement solutions. It’s definitely worthy of a holiday celebration.

Quick History of Creating Standards in Measurement

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Since humans have roamed the earth, there is evidence that science and measurement have played a significant part in the progression of our existence.  Early signs of tools and architecture are riddled with measurement references.

History also suggests there was little agreement in any standardization, though there were many proclamations for standard types of units to be used for measurement.  One can only imagine how any standardization could take place without our 21st-century technology conveniences used for sharing and collaboration.

Yet, there is a record of the first attempt to standardize measurements by the pharaoh Khufu, in the building of the great Khufu Pyramid around 2,900 B.C.  Khufu declared the standard for measurement was to be a fixed unit called the Egyptian Royal Cubit, now recognized as one of the earliest references to any standard of measure.

Scientists have noted that the reason the Great Pyramid is a perfect right angle within 3/1000 of a degree is because of the use of this standard unit of measurement.

With little agreement in standards for nearly 4,500 years thereafter, the use of various weights and measures were littered in the chronicles of designs and renderings by innovators, explorers, astronomers, scientists, and artists that include maps, weapon designs, mechanical inventions, architecture and more.

It is known that Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were successful in creating standard systems of measurement accepted in their regions; though they didn’t agree with each other’s definitions.  As the role of the instrument maker and scientist grew in popularity and prominence, standard weights and measurement tools did too.

At the longing of a Scottish Inventor and Instrument Maker James Watt, a group of scientists was urged to come together to promote a common language in measurement.  During the French Revolution, The Royal Academy of Science was instructed to create the new system based on ideas proposed by Watt to promote ‘unity’.  Ultimately this is when the meter (Metron) was first set as a standard for measuring distance, and thus the metric system was to be promoted universally for all.

Or would that really be the case? As Europe struggled to accept uniformity, in the independence of the United States, Americans defied the standards and created their own. In the beginning, each state used its own measurement, with little agreement amongst their fellow countrymen.  That is until they agreed to a standard called the Parliamentary Yard. This yard was set as a standard by a bar known as Bronze No. 11, which became the US accepted length for a yard and its own standard for measurement. Yet in Europe, the Metric System started to gain traction and greater acceptance.

It wasn’t until 1875, that the International Conference on Weights and Measures got 17 nations to actually agree to a measurement standard under the ‘Treaty of the Meter’ (Convention du Mètre).

It was in 1893 that the United States finally agreed to the standards, using Meter Bar No. 27 and Kilogram No. 20, as fundamental national standards.  And to further its commitment to universal standards, in 1901 the US Congress created the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and authorized it to have custody of standards and manage a catalog of hundreds of standards.

As of 2018, there are 60 Member States and 42 Associate State and Economies of the Meter (Metre) Convention and it remains the basis of all international agreement on units of measurement. The International System of Units (SI) is the modern metric system of measurement. The SI was established in 1960 by the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), which is the international authority of the SI and modifies the SI.

At Interface, our most frequently referenced SI unit in force measurement is the newton (symbol: N), which is the derived unit of force. It is named in recognition of Isaac Newton’s second law of motion. One newton is the force needed to accelerate one kilogram (symbol: kg) of mass at the rate of one meter per second squared in the direction of the applied force.

Measurement is still evolving, read about the redefined kilogram here.

For reference, the most recent Guide to the SI online is the NIST Special Publication 811, 2008 Edition, by Ambler Thompson and Barry N. Taylor.