It is really a numeral on the noisy alarms that informs me when I should get up. For example today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week is already well advanced and I’m correspondingly tired. But none of this is of any help, and because every morning this tiny little numeral resides within me, I love getting up at that time.
Well then, legs over the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I’m met by a numeral. While I could easily adjust as soon as I’m awoken by my alarm clock, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide in the evening to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I visit a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter is also running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter another numeral. The thermometer tells me that I should wear a jacket today the moment I leave the house. And although Alarmed is only a short distance to the automobile, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the car, I’m met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will be delayed by a few minutes because I need to fill the fuel tank on the way. As soon as I reach the filling station, I’m able to check another numeral, the one that indicates my tyre pressures. A thing that I really do not check often enough. Also, while my fuel tank is slowly getting filled, I ask myself if anyone has taken the trouble to check on the fuel pump using a standardized 5-litre canister. You will want to? You see, it really is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check on the accuracy of everything on a regular basis. In many other areas too, we can rely upon the point that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended way to work takes me past a large building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with the cranes ? once again with that inner eye of mine ? I can see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will be monitored, and angles are receiving measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. If I had the time, I would stand at the boundary just like a small boy and stare at all of it.
Then, finally, I reach the company and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are in work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. Regardless of what we do, and where we might go, measurements are omnipresent. As soon as you start great deal of thought, the list just keeps getting longer: I start to see the world in numerals because we here at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We can build scales with load cells, and we are able to establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three various ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We can measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. We can make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the world through different eyes. Does that apply to you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.