ExpoScience 2013 to feature DOST service and testing labs

By Joy M. Lazcano - S&T Media Service, DOST-STII

In celebration of the National Science and Technology Week dubbed as Expo Science 2013 on July 23-27, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)  puts the spotlight on its technology innovations and support initiatives to various industries in line with its theme "Science, Technology and Innovations: The Road to a Smarter Philippines."

In particular, these are the various technical service facilities and test laboratories offering product testing, analyses, and calibration services to enhance manufacturing companies' product quality, industry growth and global competitiveness.

One of these is the Standards and Testing Division (STD), one of the technical service divisions of the DOST attached agency, the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI). Aside from its chemical, physical and biological testing and analyses services, STD also performs research and development activities on other testing methods that may fit  clients' needs.

Another facility is the National Metrology Laboratory of the Philippines (NMLP), also under ITDI. The  country's virtual custodian  of all units of measurement standards, NMLP conducts calibration and testing services to private firms on various measurements of  mass, volume, pressure, force, length, density and volume, among others.NMLP is also the first and only laboratory in the Philippines to be accredited under ISO/IEC 17025:2005 by the German accreditation body, Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle (DAkkS), for its technical competence in   facilitating calibrations on electrical, mechanical and thermodynamic quantities.

Also to be featured in Expo Science 2013 is the Advanced Materials and Testing Laboratory(ADMATEL), a first-of-its-kind laboratory in the country which puts the Philippines on the international map of semicon and electronic parts testing by offering cost-effective services and shorter turn-around time for clients' production processes. With its cutting-edge testing and materials analysis facilities. ADMATEL drives the industry up the value chain -- from the manufacturing and assembly phase, to the  testing component, thus upping the ante for a sector viewed as one of the Philippines' major economic drivers.