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Suggested Citation:"Overall Conclusions." National Research Council. 2008. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory: Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12497.
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Page 23
Suggested Citation:"Overall Conclusions." National Research Council. 2008. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory: Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12497.
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Page 24

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Overall Conclusions Overall, the four divisions in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory reviewed by the panel are performing to the best of their capabilities, and much of the work being performed is among the best in the field. Their programs in measurement science and standards support NIST’s mission to contribute to the economic well-being of the nation. However, reduced funding and other factors are limiting (and are likely to increasingly limit) the degree to which MEL programs can achieve their objectives and are threatening the future impact of these programs. These factors include a significant percentage of division budgets relying on opportunistic funding, an overhead structure that has put increasing reliance on guest researchers and makes the postdoctoral rates noncompetitive, a lack of successor personnel in key technical positions, and a dwindling supply of workers in certain areas such as metrology. High-impact progress in the future will likely require disinvestment in some areas and strategic refocusing. NIST and the MEL have the technical capability to do this, driven by the rapidly changing scope and nature (and by the very definition) of manu- facturing in the nation. 23

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The mission of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is to promote innovation and the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing through measurement science, measurement services, and critical technical contributions to standards.

The MEL is organized in five divisions: Intelligent Systems, Manufacturing Metrology, Manufacturing Systems Integration, Precision Engineering, and Fabrication Technology. A panel of experts appointed by the National Research Council (NRC) assessed the first four divisions.

Overall, this book finds that the four individual divisions are performing to the best of their ability, given available resources. In many areas in all four divisions, the capabilities and the work being performed are among the best in the field. However, reduced funding and other factors such as difficulty in hiring permanent staff are limiting (and are likely to increasingly limit) the degree to which MEL programs can achieve their objectives and are threatening the future impact of these programs.

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