Industrial Standards: Measure for Metric Measure

In the skeptical view of many Americans, plans to convert the U.S. to the metric system of measurement is an idea whose time may never come. Nonetheless, in the ten years since Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, the country has undergone a quiet metrical transformation. Although the public still talks about ounces rather than grams, and quarts instead of liters, U.S. business is inexorably going metric. From computer parts to cosmetic creams, American goods are increasingly designed and packaged in metric units. So smoothly has this transition been accomplished that consumers now routinely buy wine in 1.5-liter bottles...