As metrology industry experts will agree, it’s surprising how many engineers misunderstand the difference between accuracy and precision. To laypeople, accuracy and precision are synonyms, both descriptors of how close an attribute is to an ideal.

In manufacturing, however, the advent of statistical process control meant that no dimension or attribute is ever considered to be “right” or “wrong.” Attributes that are both accurate and precise file within upper and lower control limits, but it’s possible for a dimension or measured attribute to be highly precise, yet not accurate.

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