Instrument Calibration Services
Instrument calibration service providers calibrate various instruments including many types of process monitoring devices and analytical equipment including, flow instruments such as flow meters and sensors, gauges, totalizers or valve position indicators; pressure and vacuum instruments such as pressure sensors or gauges, meters, transducers or vacuum pumps; force, weight or mass instruments including strain gauges, load cells, scales or torque monitors; temperature instruments including thermocouple, RTD or thermistor type devices; humidity instruments including absolute or relative humidity, moisture content or dew point measuring devices; multimeter or electrical meters, either analog or digital; physical or dimensional instruments such as calipers, and micrometers, fiber optic or lightwave instruments including multiplexers, analyzers, isolators etc; rf or microwave instruments such as transmitters, receivers, antennas etc; generators; power supplies including any AC or DC power supply or conditioners; oscilloscopes or scopes or chart recorders; and signal or function analyzers.
Providers of instrument calibration services may have one of several calibration quality requirements. These requirements include ISO / IEC 17025, ANSI / NCSL Z540-1, A2LA, ISO 9001, ISO 9002, NIST, or GMP / FDA. ISO 17025 addresses the proficiency of the organization to perform the testing and calibration activities. It is a standard geared towards technical qualification and deals heavily with measurement uncertainties. This is layered on top of an ISO 9000 certification, which is a standard, used for total company quality system. Formerly MIL-STD 45662A, American National Standard ANSI / NCSL Z540-1 is a requirements document titled "Calibration Laboratories and Measuring and Test Equipment - General Requirements." A2LA is the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. A2LA accreditation is defined as formal recognition of an organization’s technical competency to perform specific tests, types of tests, or calibrations. ISO 9001 sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes range all the way from design and development, to production, installation and servicing. ISO 9002 is for an organization, which does not carry out design and development. It does not include the design control requirements of ISO 9001 - otherwise, its requirements are identical. Calibrations are traceable to National Institute of Standards and Technology. GMP, or Good Manufacturing Practice, is a quality requirement for instruments involved in sanitary processing; such as pharmaceuticals or foods. FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, is a similar quality requirement.
Specific services offered by providers of instrument calibration services include, rapid turnaround, on-site calibration, pick up and delivery, calibration documentation, in-house contract lab services, and online documentation. Rapid turnaround means the supplier offers quick turnaround on instrument calibration services, typically in a few days. A supplier offering on-site calibration has personnel and/or equipment for on-site calibration work, eliminating the added expense of taking the instrument off line and shipping it. The supplier offers pick-up and delivery services to minimize cost and time associated with using in-house personnel. Documentation or test reports show calibration information such as "as found" and "as left" data, next scheduled calibration, etc with calibration documentation. A supplier that offers in-house contract lab services has capabilities and resources for setting up an in-house contract lab for supplier - minimizing any downtime or lag in getting instruments quickly calibrated. Supplier has online documentation system to access history, calibration certifications and recalibration notifications.
