As Found Condition - In or out of tolerance?

dwperron

Trusted Information Resource
#1
We have been having a philosophical discussion here. When an instrument arrives at the lab and it is inoperative (dead power supply, bad display, hangs on self test, etc) so that you are unable to record "as found" results, and you repair the instrument, and find that after the repair it is within tolerance without having to make any adjustments. Would you report the as-found condition to be in or out of tolerance?
I have heard that since you could not have taken an out of tolerance measurement because the instrument was inoperative that you should not report it as found out of tolerance (mainly so that the user does not have to deal with an "out of tolerance" result).
The other side feels that since you could not make a measurement how can you call the instrument in tolerance?
How do your organizations handle this issue? Is there any guidance in the standards?
 
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BradM

Staff member
Admin
#3
Hmmm.... that's a good question.

I would document as an as-found as "fail"; if you cannot assert the instrument is in tolerance at the time you receive it. Mark on the documentation what occurred, the nature of the repair, etc.; make the repair, and then record as-left. I would note: inoperable; detectable to the user. Then, the user can write up in the failure notice follow-up that it was not used, no impact or whatever.

After all, the instrument could have been working fine prior to shipping; or they could have had intermittent issues affecting their process.

Overall, I think it's... better.... for a repair/ metrology function to report on what they found and what they did; and not have to try to assess if there was impact or not.
 

Hershal

Metrologist-Auditor
Staff member
Super Moderator
#4
I would agree with John. Especially as repair is typically billed at a different reate than calibration.
 

DietCokeofEvil

Trusted Information Resource
#5
At my facility, if something is not operable upon receipt, the as found readings are "inoperable". If it can be repaired, the repaired and calibrated readings go in the as left column.
 
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