Are Outside Calibration Companies required to NADCAP Certified?

[L.Mathews]

Can anyone tell me if outside calibration companies required to nadcap certified? I have air furnace ovens that we use for aging and dip braze pre-heat and solution heat treat, once a month we have an outside company come in and perform all tus test, do i need to flow down to them the requirement to be nadcap certified?

 

[adamt]

Hi L,
We are an outside calibration lab and certify for a lot of companies that are NADCAP certified. We have had to show traceability and become accredited to 17205 but have never been asked by the auditors to be NADCAP certified. You might check the lab you are using to see if there scope of accreditation covers the type of calibration you require. Hope this helps.

 

[Big Jim]

As far as I know, calibration is not a topic for NADCAP accreditation. NADCAP is administrated by PRI. You might want to lurk around the PRI web site to see if there is more on the topic.

If a customer wants a calibration company to demonstrate a higher than usual commitment to quality they would probably require accreditation to ISO 17025.

 

[Jerry Eldred]

The previous to replies pretty well covered it. As someone in the industry for about 35 years, my answer would be about the same as the other two replies - I don't believe a calibration company would need to be NADCAP certified. As mentioned above, ISO17025 is becoming the international/global standard for calibration lab certification. I would guess (and I do mean gues, as I am not at all versed in NADCAP requirements) that NADCAP may even in some of their documentation require that a NADCAP manufacturing organization have calibrations done by an ISO17025 accredited lab, or some language to that effect.

My recommendation would be to contact knowledgeable quality management systems people associated with NADCAP and ask them. I have never heard of a calibration lab being NADCAP certified.

 

[Mikishots]

The previous to replies pretty well covered it. As someone in the industry for about 35 years, my answer would be about the same as the other two replies - I don't believe a calibration company would need to be NADCAP certified. As mentioned above, ISO17025 is becoming the international/global standard for calibration lab certification. I would guess (and I do mean gues, as I am not at all versed in NADCAP requirements) that NADCAP may even in some of their documentation require that a NADCAP manufacturing organization have calibrations done by an ISO17025 accredited lab, or some language to that effect.

My recommendation would be to contact knowledgeable quality management systems people associated with NADCAP and ask them. I have never heard of a calibration lab being NADCAP certified.

I don't think a calibration could be even if they wanted to - it's not within the scope. NADCAP deals primarily with special processes.

 

[Sorin]

At a minimum, the calibration, results and records shall comply with AMS 2750 rev E, Para 3.2.5 and 3.2.6.

You may also pass the requirements to your supplier.

As for Laboratories being Nadcap certified, yes they are...log on eauditnet.com and there are two chapters of checklists for Materials Testing and Non-Metallic Materials Testing.

However, in this particular case the calibration company is not necessary to be Nadcap

 

[andygr]

Can anyone tell me if outside calibration companies required to nadcap certified?

The simple answere is No. Your HT calibration sources do not need Nadcap approval.

BUT

Make sure that they understand the requirements of AMS 2750 and any the specifications that might be in play for your customers.
A simple AMS 2750 example is a calibration house might not be aware that if they calibrate at your location that the instrument used is now concidered a field test instrument and subject to the calibration intervals listed in table 3 which changes the interval for their equipment used in house only from 12 months to 3 months.