Defines tasks, duties, tools, and equipment used by numerical control programmers and operators. Provides educators with competencies that should be included in training programs. (Author/CH)

A major goal of the manufacturing industry is increasing product quality. The quality of a product is strongly associated with the condition of the cutting tool that produced it. Catching poor tool conditions early in the production will help reduce defects. However, with current CNC technology, manufacturers still rely mainly on the operator's…