Agilent Defining Your Calibration Requirement - White Paper 5991-1319EN c20140529 [5] free download

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Keysight Technologies Defining Your Calibration Requirement White Paper Introduction Okay, so you've convinced the accountant that the consequence of not having your test gear calibrated is too risky and also believe you've selected a calibration vendor that meets your organization's initial requirements. But what steps can be taken when actually placing the order to ensure you get a "proper" calibration? Here's a suggestion. How to Take the Uncertainty Out of Buying a Service Author: Mike Hutchins Keysight Technologies, Inc. The level of knowledge possessed by purchasers of calibration services varies significantly from company to company. Some organizations employ an experienced metrologist to make calibration purchases while others entrust this complex decision to a non-technical purchasing function. The result of this is that the validity of purchasing decisions varies from exceptionally good to extremely inappropriate. Extremely inappropriate decisions invariably cost the company more money; either because they are buying unnecessary or unnecessarily detailed calibration or, more commonly, because they are buying insufficient or insufficiently detailed calibration. While the insufficient option may be cheaper, it often results in far greater eventual cost to the company through rework and incorrect decisions relating to product quality and customer satisfaction. To justify unnecessary calibration, a detailed knowledge of the precise application of the equipment is required as part of the analysis but adoption of simple measures can enable a purchaser to overcome a tendency to buy inadequate calibration. This is particularly necessary for final test instruments and those responsible for end-product quality. Inputs from some of the most knowledgeable technical buyers in the UK have been used to construct the following purchase order statement which should help the less well-informed calibration purchaser avoid the inadequacy trap: Calibration shall be undertaken against full manufacturers' specifications. Where equipment is found to be out of specification, full performance test results, in the as- received condition, must be obtained before any adjustment or repair action is taken. On completion of the calibration work a certificate of calibration is required, signed by your authorized representative, containing a statement confirming that the calibration can be demonstrated to be traceable to National or International standards and stat- ing the item's full compliance with its performance specifications. Full performance test results, taking the form of measured values, are to be supplied. Any omissions from the full calibration are to be notified to us and shall be agreed in writing before a certificate, clearly annotated "Limited Calibration" is issued. A declaration of measure- ment uncertainty values shall be included