17025 Calibration Requirements - External calibration service cannot calibrate

[rvin59]

17025??????

Back to the old subject of 17025!!!!
Am I correct that our internal equipment such as load cells (for vessels up to 5 tonnes), balances etc used throughout the company (labs, manufacturing, dispensing) need to be calibrated by an extenal company certified to 17025?
What if the extenal calibration service concerned cannot calibrate equipment that weighs to say 5 tonnes (which is the position we currently face) because it is physically impossible to do so i.e. a calibrated 5 tonne weight on a load cell????
Have I got this issue completely wrong?
Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks

rvin28

 

[Teri - 2011]

Can you get the originial manufacturer of the equipment to calibrate it. That is about the only way out of 17025. Other than customer waiver.

 

[rvin59]

Unfortunately we can't. We have also submitted the customer waiver and you can imagine the response. Given the option, customers want calibration to 17025 - it seems to be a no win situation. Can you suggest any way around calibrating a 5 tonne vessel other than using calibrated weights to 5 tonnes?

Thanks

Rvin 28

 

[D.Scott]

Sorry for sticking my nose in here. I hope I'm not just adding useless information because I missed the point.

I don't think 16949 says you have to have the equipment calibrated by an external lab. If you do use one, it certainly has to be certified to 17025 or equivelent.

The requirement allows, for example, calibration by an internal lab. There is no requirement for the internal lab to be certified to 17025 although certification could be used to demonstrate conformity to the requirements of 7.6.3.1 Check out 7.6.3 and see if you meet the requirements under your internal system. If so, your "work around" may be as simple as bringing your lab up to snuff, writing your calibration procedures and doing the calibration yourself.

Dave

 

[howste]

What kind of equipment is this load cell on? I've got some ideas, but they assume you've got a lot of space under the load cell to work with...

Do know of anyone that has weights calibrated up to 5-tons? You may be able to work out an arrangement to rent the weights from them and calibrate the load cells yourself (with or without their assistance). I have a client that fabricates overhead bridge cranes that has weights calibrated up to 10 tons.

Another possibility is to use a huge water bag I've heard them talk about. They use it to load test cranes. They can fill it to known volumes and use the known weight of the water to calculate the weight. I don't know a lot of details about this one, but I thought I'd at least mention it.

Good luck!