It is really a numeral on the alarm clock that tells me when I should get up. For instance today, a perfectly ordinary Thursday. The week has already been well advanced and I am 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 on the edge of the bed and I drag myself into the bathroom. Once again, I am met by way of a numeral. While I can easily adjust as soon as I am awoken by my noisy alarms, the numeral on my accursed scales will not seem an easy task to influence. Or, at best, in the long-term. I decide at night to go jogging, but first splash my face with water. Even then, I see a numeral with my inner eye ? the water meter can be running.
Refreshed and dry once more, I immediately encounter the next numeral. The thermometer informs me that I should wear a jacket today when I go out. And although it is only a short distance to the car, I am glad in my own private measuring station for that piece of advice. Once I reach the automobile, I am met by another numeral. My arrival at the job will likely be delayed by a few minutes because I have to fill the fuel tank on the way. The moment I reach the filling station, I am in a position to check another numeral, one that indicates my tyre pressures. Something that I 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 utilizing a standardized 5-litre canister. Why not? You see, it is quite normal for an official from the calibration authority to check the accuracy of everything regularly. In many the areas too, we can rely upon the fact that everything gets measured accurately.
My extended solution to work takes me past a large building site. What beautiful machines! Especially with Illusive ? once again with that inner eye of mine ? I could see so many numerals: The weight raised on the boom will undoubtedly be monitored, and angles are getting measured. When approaching the limits of the tipping lines, even the thrust and support forces become of interest. EASILY had the time, I would stand at the boundary such as a small boy and stare at everything.
Then, finally, I reach the business and a perfectly normal Thursday follows its usual course. As always, numerals are at work here, ones that ultimately co-determine our lives. No matter 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 at WIKA divide up the everyday things into numerals. We are able to build scales with load cells, and we can establish the temperature with measuring sensors. We can measure pressure in three different ways. We can measure flow rates and levels. We are able to measure tension and compression forces and we can calculate angles. We are able to make entire systems safe by monitoring measured values. Anyone who knows metrology sees the planet through different eyes. Does that connect with you, too?
Note
Further information on our measuring instruments can be found on the WIKA website.