This is the first time I've used this forum so I hope I am entering the question in the appropriate area. If not, I apologize... My question is - when determining frequencies for weigh scale calibration due dates, is it sufficient to set a month and year (i.e. July 2006)? Is this acceptable for ISO9001? My gut feeling is that an actual date (July 15, 2006: ) should be designated. My Q.A. Manager feels otherwise. I work for a Foundry and the scales are used to weigh molds and cores to determine if they are weighing within the required range of acceptance.

This is the first time I've used this forum so I hope I am entering the question in the appropriate area. If not, I apologize... My question is - when determining frequencies for weigh scale calibration due dates, is it sufficient to set a month and year (i.e. July 2006)? Is this acceptable for ISO9001? My gut feeling is that an actual date (July 15, 2006:thanks: ) should be designated. My Q.A. Manager feels otherwise. I work for a Foundry and the scales are used to weigh molds and cores to determine if they are weighing within the required range of acceptance.


I moved this thread to this forum to help get better responses on your question.

In previous companies I worked for we preferred to only require Month and Year on the calibration dates. To eliminate the possibility of missing the "specific" date. It was easier to maintain the calibration records using month and year.

This is the first time I've used this forum so I hope I am entering the question in the appropriate area. If not, I apologize... My question is - when determining frequencies for weigh scale calibration due dates, is it sufficient to set a month and year (i.e. July 2006)? Is this acceptable for ISO9001? My gut feeling is that an actual date (July 15, 2006:thanks: ) should be designated. My Q.A. Manager feels otherwise. I work for a Foundry and the scales are used to weigh molds and cores to determine if they are weighing within the required range of acceptance.

Welcome to the Cove. :bigwave: If you go to the main forums page (http://elsmar.com/Forums/) and scroll down, you'll see a list of all of the different forums available. Just pick the appropriate one. In most cases, if there's one that's more appropriate than the one you choose, a moderator will move the post, which is what will happen here, I'm sure.

As to your question, you can specify a month rather than a specific date so long as what you do doesn't conflict with a customer requirement. You need to be careful, though, not to create conflicting requirements in your documentation. If you specify "12 months" as the mandated interval, it could be construed to mean that a specific anniversary date is the endpoint. Explain in your documentation that an interval endpoint expressed as 10/06 (October of 2006) means that the recalibration must be done before November 1 of 2006.

Greetings and welcome Horselady,:bigwave:

I agree whole heartedly with the above posts.
I work for a calibration lab. We require our technicians to enter only the month and year of the due dates.
This eliminates a whole host of scheduling conflicts both for us and our customers. :bonk:
If we had a specific date to meet, we would eventually miss way too many calibrations.
It is the nature of the business. Every customer is important. Emergency service is also part of what we do. If you are out of business because your scale is down you go way up on the list. Sometimes regular calibrations at smoothly running customers simply must wait another 24 hours.
Our calibration agreements state monthly, bimonthly instead of 30 days or 60 days. This keeps everyone out of the proverbial box.
We DO however have a few customers (mostly TS16949) where we actually schedule a date and time for calibrations like a Dr. Appointment. This obviously comes with a fee.:D
Your accredited calibration house should be able to meet YOUR requirements, whatever they may be.

Makes sense to me - thanks for the input. This is going to be great having a place to go with questions..

Hello!

This is a good question, and it comes up quite often. Basically, Jim's response is a good one.

I've had customers who have done month/day/year as the due date, and month/ year. Guess who had more equipment past due during audits?

But like Jim said, it it contingent on customer requirements and regulatory compliance. Some industries are a bit more picky than others.

Setting calibration frequency dates is an exercise in risk/return. The longer you go between calibration frequencies, the more work you may have to review should you have an out-of-calibration situation. How much risk can you accept?

If your equipment has never been calibrated, you may want to stick to a "shorter" time interval (I'll just throw out, say six months), until you find your equipment within tolerance, or stable. Then you can spread it out more (given that your requirements allow you to perform this.) Again, the interval will depend on the performance of the equipment, requirements, and the critical/non-critical nature of the process

We put month/year on our stickers after learning a hard lesson during an external audit.

Day 2 of a 3 day audit...we were in our second testing lab on day 2, having been in the first on Day 1...

Auditor : Oh look, this equipment was due yesterday.
QC Mgr : So it was.
Auditor : Why wasn't it done?
QC Mgr : Because you were here...I was with you.
Auditor : That's no excuse.

Never put day/month/year on the stickers since! :lol:

Personally, I don't agree with the answers given:notme:

Let's say, for discussion sake, the scale in question is scheduled for calibration each month. It's measurements are critical to the process.

So the following dates are listed on the calibration report:

01/03/06
02/28/06
03/02/06
04/28/06
05/07/06

On the 4/28 calibration the scale is found significantly out of tolerance. Instead of worrying about 30 days of nonconforming product, you now have 57 days to consider (7 day work week).

But your all saying thats fine because you just list the month/year and not a specific date and all your calibrations have a tolerance of +/- 30 days:confused:

Hey Ken,

Good question. Thanks for asking.

In your example above, all calibrations are being done monthly. You calibrate on 1/03, with 02/06 as the due date. It does not matter when in 02 you verify it. If it's critical, then perform it on 02/01/06. You really do not need to force your system by putting a 02/01/06 date on the sticker, do you?

If you're checking a weigh scale monthly and it's OOT, you have bigger problems than the date on the sticker. Something is wrong.

In essence, you are correct. There are other methods, though (including daily/weekly performance checks on the balance) to minimize the exposure. Adding a day/week/month date to the due date only creates more stress for those wishing to stay in compliance, with hundreds/thousands of intruments in their system.

Even with month/year on the sticker, you could check it twice, three times in the month. But you have only made a mandate to have it done by the end of the month.

Don't let your system trap you. Please post again if this does not address your concern.

In your example above, all calibrations are being done monthly. You calibrate on 1/03, with 02/06 as the due date. It does not matter when in 02 you verify it.


Brad, with all due respect, are you serious?

We have equipment calibrated by outside sources. When they are done with the calibrations, we require them to schedule the next calibration before they leave. Actually, Tinius Olsen does that on their own before they leave. The date of the calibration / next calibration is also on their stickers. In fact, it's on all our outside calibration labels.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but just the month listed would not be acceptable in our lab. A written nonconformance in the past and a lively discussion here led to an update in our calibration procedure.

I think as far as your due dates, the importance of the equipment in your processes should define your frequency and due dates. I have worked with measurement devices where we said it has to be done before the end of the month due, it has to be done sometime within the week, it has to be calibrated somewhere within the quarter. Each company is different and what works for one will not work for another. It depends on the tolerances involved. the industry standards or regulatory requirements, and just how apt the device is to go out of calibration. Now, all that being said, we also tried to make sure that we got the calibration done as close to the same interval every time as possible. i.e. the 20th of the month, Monday mornings, every third month on the 15th.

I think as far as your due dates, the importance of the equipment in your processes should define your frequency and due dates.

Exactly. :agree1:

Good point Ken.

I can not speak for all calibration labs, only for us.
We keep the exact date of the due calibration in house not on the sticker. What IS on the sticker is the exact date of the last calibration (if someone would need to trace product) and the frequency of calibrations.
We make every effort to calibrate the same customer during the same week each month (for 30 day jobs) Customers do not require monthly calibrations unless they are critical to their process. We understand this and accommodate. The same care is taken with each and every customer. I have a customer we do literally every 15 days. Another we are at every Monday doing round robin calibrations over the entire plant. Another is the first Friday of every month……
Obviously the less frequent calibrations are easier to move up or back a week if need be.
The key here is for the calibration lab to fully understand and meet the requirements of each customer. :yes:
Also, as an aside, do not underestimate the operators of said scales. They know or have suspicions when the scale is off. “ It is not working quite right” should never be dismissed. In house weights are always recommended for exceedingly critical scales.
If 10 pounds doesn’t read 10 pounds you call the scale company. :notme:

Good day,
Previously, our calibration interval of weighing scale (used for shipment) is 1 year (specifically with actual dates). We have generated our own calibration regulation that this equipment will be recalled 1 month in advance before its due date so that the end-user can schedule their equipment to be calibrated. After observing the results of calibration done, we observed that the results always drifted (about 0.5 Kilo) every year. So we decided to shorten the calibration frequency to quarterly or every three months. This is also done to other equipment internally calibrated.
Then, to assure the recalling of the equipment for calibration, we have generated a web based program to automatically notify us and the end user 1month(once), 15 days(once) and 5 days(daily) before its due date.
Since we are the one handling the quality issue in our company, we have to make sure of the quality of our equipments we are using to have a smooth flow in our production/processes.

Hope I have shared you some tips.