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Can I verify Calibration rather than Certify Calibration?

Discussion in 'Documentation Control, Procedures, Templates,...' started by Mary K, Mar 28, 2022.

  1. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    I can assure you that the cost of their services, will be outweighed (substantially) by the cost savings they identify with you.
     
    Mary K likes this.
  2. Jennifer Kirley

    Jennifer Kirley Moderator Staff Member

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    Except for your customers (better ask them first), nothing that I know of stops you from doing the verification activities yourself. Manufacturers have even published some free instructions. This is just one example; an Internet search for specific instruments is sure to result in finding more.

    The standard asks for a process, as well as for traceability in the measurement standards (usually to NIST) and for you to ensure no adverse effects on customer product/service resulted from out-of-tolerance conditions. You will need to keep records, and ensure you have a record of determining the person doing these calibrations is competent. Performing GR&R might be used to help with this, as the Reproducibility portion indicates the variation between people performing the same measurement.

    I was in this same position years ago. My family-owned machine shop employer sent out dozens of dial calipers monthly for calibration and cleaning/servicing, at the average cost of $20 each for each service. Imagine the cost! How long before they might as well have bought new ones? (no they didn't do that math) I volunteered to start an internal calibration program, and performed simple maintenance on our calipers, saving the professional services for bigger needs such as correcting physical wear. It would have been nice to receive a portion of the savings. :)

    I am not affiliated with Mitutoyo, Modern Machine Shop or DMAICTools.
     
    RonR Quality Pro likes this.
  3. RonR Quality Pro

    RonR Quality Pro Active Member

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    Jennifer has brought up a few very good points. The requirement is to have 'a process'...it is YOUR responsibility (as a company) to determine what that process is and how it will work.
    Choosing to verify the function of a gauge prior to use (this is NOT verifying calibration, which you could do just by looking for a calibration sticker that isn't expired) is an excellent safeguard for your customer, and I am confident that if you ask them, they will agree.

    Competence of the person(s) doing the daily validation is important as well - definitely need to have some documentation to show that the person has been trained AND EVALUATED AS COMPETENT (by another competent person) to perform the daily validation. Yes, it ends up generating a LOT of paperwork, but electronic records can be your friend for something like this.