Why Metrology is Important

“Metrology is the science of measurement and underpins all manufacturing technologies. If you cannot measure, then you cannot manufacture.”

Access to metrology technology, high‑level skills and expertise are vital to the manufacturing sector and are key for the production of high quality, high value products and components.

According to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), traditional product verification processes typically account for 10–20% of finished product costs and over £15 billion per year of costs in the UK alone. These processes rely on gathering and analysing accurate and timely evidence after manufacture, and which typically are the preserve of Quality Assurance departments.

For established and emerging high‑value manufacturing sectors (for example aerospace, automotive, flexible electronics, bio‑engineering, optics) where precision is paramount, the development of new metrology technologies and capabilities is critical to success and growth in the UK economy. In particular this applies to the trend towards in‑process metrology and continuous measurement which substantially reduces or removes the need for costly additional processes.

In some areas and applications (for example optics, bio‑medical, additive), without the development of new instrument technologies and methods, it becomes impossible to manufacture economically because there is no effective way of measuring. Improved metrology technologies, in particular embedded metrology, becomes an enabler to these new products and can have a dramatic impact on product quality by reducing defects and scrap rates and increasing productivity.

“Over 60% of British Standards involve measurement or testing”

“Between 1 to 5% of GDP is spent on measurement activities in industrialised nations”

UK Measurement Strategy 2017

According to a survey of measurement in industry carried out by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which examined the use of measurement throughout the manufacturing lifecycle: